The Guardian: Aizen's Revenge
by Pastrygirl
Summary: AU. Sequel to The Guardian. After rescuing the Soul Society from Aizen's rule, Toshiro has now set off on a journey to learn more about his newly discovered dragon heritage and abilities, and to hopefully recover a lost friend. But Aizen is still lurking around dead set on revenge and recovering the Oken, and he isn't alone. No pairs/No romance
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to the second part on The Guardian Series. If you have not read part 1, The Guardian please take the time to read it first otherwise this may confusing, you can follow this link to it: s/11913212/1/The-Guardian . I do not own any Bleach characters, but I do own most of the dragons. Please enjoy the first chapter in this new adventure!**

Deep in the rugged mountains, a silver dragon streaked through the sky, playfully swooping around clouds before diving to maneuver the dense forest below. The young dragon then rose into the sky and let loose a steady stream of ice in front of him. Grinning with satisfaction, the dragon landed back on the ground and let loose a roar that seemed to shake the mountains. And then with a burst of spiritual pressure, the dragon transformed back into a silver haired young man, the former captain of squad ten of the Gotei thirteen.

 _You're getting better at this, young dragon._

'This is definitely is getting easier.' Toshiro grinned.

 _You still need more practice on your ice breath though._

'I thought it was pretty good' he snorted.

 _You're not tapping into your instincts enough. It's powerful, but it can be much better still._

Toshiro rolled his eye and sat down on a rock near his makeshift camp. The sun was beginning to set in the distance. Feeling his stomach rumble, Toshiro hoped and set to skinning and deboning the rabbit he caught earlier. It had been a year to the day since he had begun training with his dragon abilities. It had taken him nearly a month just to be able to turn into a dragon at will, and at least another two before get got good at flying. It was starting to feel natural being in that form.

The young man set to roasting his catch over the campfire, and before he knew it, he was chowing down on dinner. As he chewed his food, he found himself delving into his inner world. The frozen plains were filled with swirling white flurries that blew around in the howling wind. The silver haired man searched in everywhere direction before screaming for Hyorinmaru, trying desperately to be louder than the wind. Hearing no reply once again Toshiro picked a direction and began running crying out aloud for his lost friend. After getting no response, Toshiro dropped to his knees. He knew Hyorinmaru was around here somewhere, he had to be.

 _You will find him eventually. His soul is not completely gone, just lost._

The Guardian didn't make an appearance in Toshiro's inner world since he was a fire dragon and didn't care too much for an ice world.

'Then why can't I find him' Toshiro breathed.

 _In time you will, young one. Now it is time for you to rest. I want you up with the sun this time._

Toshiro sighed and exited his inner world. The last traces of light were fading behind the mountains, and Toshiro settled into his little tent. Fortunately for him, he prefered cold weather because the temperature dropped drastically at night. He would find Hyorinmaru one day, and he refused to give up until he was able to locate his old friend.

/

The next morning was spent spewing ice streams one after the other into the sky until Toshiro landed on back on the ground to take a break. He felt like it was improving, and the Guardian agreed, but he could still do better.

After a few more hours, the silver dragon then focused his attention his aerial maneuvers. Swooping around clouds and performing hair pin turns around large boulders, Toshiro by far enjoyed this part the best. It was exhilarating feeling the wind whip against his face as he soared through the sky. Diving and twirling through the air brought a genuine smile to Toshiro's face for the first time in a long time. It was like nothing in the world mattered as long as he was freely soaring through the sky.

From high in the sky Toshiro rode a wind current as he lazily looked at the landscape below. Movement below caught his attention as he noticed two small figures scurrying along the ground. He would have ignored it if it wasn't for the larger figuring quickly pursuing the two smaller ones. He quickly tilted his winds and dove downwards successfully landing between the two small creatures and the larger one.

After landing, Toshiro realized that the smaller creatures were in fact small dragons; just a little bit bigger than a baby, if he had to guess. One was a light blue, and the other a dull purple. And pursuing these young dragons was a large red dragon that at least a whole five feet taller than him and slightly larger in girth too. Toshiro crouched down facing the larger dragon ready to pounce if needed. The three dragons froze in place momentarily at the appearance of the silver dragon, but once they realized he was coming to their defense the two smaller dragons moved to hide behind Toshiro.

"Do not interfere, Silver-back" the red dragon hissed.

"What are you picking on a couple of kids for?" Toshiro snorted.

"That is none of your business" he snarled.

"He's trying to kidnap up" the small blue dragon pipped in.

"Yeah, we were just trying to get home to our mom, and this meenie is trying to get us." the purple on added.

"It doesn't sound like you have any good intentions, so I'm going to ask you to back off."Toshiro growled. The red dragon growled deeply for a moment before snorting and trotting off.

'I'm surprised he backed down. He's larger than me so I expected him to at least try and fight.' Toshiro thought inwardly.

 _Perhaps he sensed your spiritual pressure. You're not one to be trifled with, young one._

Toshiro snorted and turned to face the young ones behind him.

"Thank you so much, mister." the both sang excitedly.

"We thought he was going to get us for sure." the blue one added.

"It was no problem really." Toshiro shrugged. "Where is your mother, you shouldn't be out here on your own like this, it's dangerous" Both dragons shrugged in response sadly.

"We were playing and before we knew it, we didn't recognize where we were anymore, and we don't know how to get back." the purple one explained.

"I will help you find your home." Toshiro smiled making the younger two smile as well. "I can't just leave you out here by yourselves. Let's go." Toshiro jumped into the air and the smaller dragons followed.

/

They spent hours searching around for signs of the young dragons' mother. They stopped a few times to let the young ones rest before continuing. Around sunset they finally spotted another dragon flying towards them from a distance. At first Toshiro was concerned that it was red dragon again, but he relaxed when the smaller ones excitedly flew towards the approaching dragon. Once they reached her, they happily flew in little circles around her as she nuzzled them in the air. Toshiro could see them talking away, and assumed they were recounting their adventure to her. And he was right as she whipped her head towards him and flew his direction. Toshiro landed on the ground and waited for her to arrive.

"You saved my babies, and for that I thank you." she bowed her head slightly towards him. She was almost twice his size and was a little bit brighter of a purple then her offspring.

"Don't worry about it, it was no problem at all." Toshiro snorted. She took a minute to size him up, making Toshiro a little uncomfortable under her gaze.

"You are just a child yourself." she snorted. "What are you doing out here by yourself?"

"I have always been out here by myself." Toshiro replied making himself a little sad with the response.

"This is no place for young ones. Why don't you come back with us and I will make you some dinner?" she invited warmly. Toshiro's stomach growled at the mention of food.

"Thank you, I would appreciate that." Toshiro bowed.

"It is no problem, young one. What is your name?"

"My name is Toshiro." he hesitated briefly before telling her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Toshiro. I am Yasashi, and my children are Hikari and Hoshi." she gestured towards the blue and the purple dragons.

"It's nice to meet you all."

/

"This is very good." Toshiro complimented in between bites as he chowed down on freshly roasted deer. He hadn't ever eaten in his dragon form before, but he quickly found out that he could consume way more this way. He had decided for now it was best to remain as a dragon. Most dragons couldn't transform into a human so he would for sure stand out if he revealed that he could.

"Thank you, young one." Yasashi purred as she attended to her children. They were in a small building that resembled a cottage except everything inside was much bigger. There were a couple piles of hay near one wall where the little ones curled up to go to sleep after eating. The house was nestled on the mountain foothills in a large valley deep within the mountains. No human could easily venture this far into the rugged terrain. They weren't the only dragons here though. The cottage was at the edge of what Toshiro could describe as a large village. Numerous buildings dotted the valley with varying lights shining out of them. A large medieval style castle sat on a hill at the opposite end of the valley. Each structure looked a little different, and he was kind of eager to see the place in the morning.

"You can sleep here as long as you need, young one." she announced after he finished eating. "I am forever in your debt for saving the lives of my children.

"Really it was no problem at all." Toshiro smiled. "I am glad I was able to help. I think I will take you up on your offer, but I can't stay more than a few days."

"I hope you reconsider, it can be dangerous out there for young ones. But I will not stop you when you are ready to leave, you seem strong enough to fend for yourself."

"Thank you again, Yasashi."

/

The morning light was beautiful as it gently bathed the serene valley in its golden light. Toshiro laying on top of the small cottage enjoying the sunrise. His tail swished gently as he took in the sight before him. He had never been around other dragons before, aside from Hyorinmaru and the Guardian, so it was fascinating to suddenly be surrounded by them. Little by little he watched dragons of varying colors and sizes emerge from their domiciles to begin their day. In a way the dragons behaved similar to human, with obvious differences on how they proceeded to their respective tasks though.

Some began what he assumed was chores as they blew dust out the front doors with their snouts and piled trash outside to properly dispose of later. Others herded their small ones outside on into town to what he guessed was probably school of a sort. Surprisingly others even had varying livestock on their properties that they were bringing fresh water and food to. Even though he could only see a portion of the town from here, it was still pretty neat to watch the dragons go about their day.

"Toshiro." the larger dragon called out making the silver dragon to reluctantly turn his gaze away from the scene to look down below. "I'm sorry to ask, but would you mind helping me with some tasks around here?"

"Of course." Toshiro glided on to the ground. "What do you need help with?"

"I have some business to take care of in town, would you mind escorted these two to their lesson? I hate to ask, but I can't be late."

"No problem at all. It's the least I can do."

Yasashi smiled and nuzzled her little ones goodbye before bounding out the door.

/

Toshiro followed the young dragons to their lessons. They go distracted a few times along the way, but overall they did a good job leading him to their meeting place. They followed a small path that lead partially up a mountain to a large cave that faced the town. Toshiro paused briefly to enjoy the view. This place was huge. He never imagined so many dragons still existed. Once the young ones saw their teacher and friends they quickly shouted goodbye to Toshiro and flew to join in on the pre lesson activities.

Not knowing what to do now, the silver dragon followed the path back to town and decided to sightsee a little. Most of the dragons in town moved around him without so much as giving him a second glance while others seemed to stare. Occasionally he would see what looked like a human walking by, but he remembered that the most powerful of his kind could take on that form. He guessed they enjoyed showing off that form when they could. These dragons would boldly walk in any direction they wanted and every dragon would move out of the way for them. He snorted at the arrogance of these beings.

 _You forget, you are one of these 'arrogant beings as well.'_ he laughed amusingly.

'I am not arrogant' Toshiro frowned internally making the Guardian smirk but otherwise remain silent.

After a few minutes of wandering around, Toshiro spotted Yasashi under a small market stand conversing with a dark blue dragon of similar size to her. He couldn't hear what she was saying but he saw her reach into a bag and pull out a shiny object to offer the other dragon. Toshiro strolled over.

"I will give you twenty gold pieces for that, Yasashi." the dragon snorted.

"Please I need at least forty." she pleaded. "This was my late partner's. It is very dear to me, and it has gold in it."

"I'm sorry, but I won't go higher than that."

"Please I'm desperate, I wouldn't even be selling this if I didn't absolutely have to." she begged and the blue dragon sighed.

"I understand, Yasashi." he paused for a moment. "I will give you thirty but no higher."

"Thank you, thank you." she sighed as she handed him the object for a small bag of gold. She turned and almost jumped when she saw Toshiro suddenly behind her.

"Toshiro? You scared me, what are you doing here?"

"I followed your children to school and then I decided to have a look around town. What was that all about." he gestured to the once again busy merchant.

"Oh that was nothing, just some business." she nervously chattered making Toshiro raise his eyebrow suspiciously.

"Hmph, I do not believe that was nothing, you appeared to be selling something of sentimental value, why?" he prodded and she sighed letting her head drop a little.

"Ever since my partner passed his spirit, it has been a little hard to make ends meet, so I have been selling what I can."

"If there is anything I can do to help out. . ." he was interrupted as a bell from a tower on the large castle rang throughout town. Everyone around him began to migrate towards the castle; some walked while others flew hoping to get a good spot.

"What's going on?" Toshiro asked as he flew into the air to follow Yasahi who had taken off just a second before.

"You really aren't from around here are you?" she smiled. "Our leader has an announcement to make it seems. He is a very powerful dragon names, Dagateru." Toshiro paused in the sky briefly following after her.

 _Something doesn't feel right, Toshiro. Be on your guard._

Toshiro nodded internally as they landed in the courtyard area in front of the large fortress. Nothing happened for at least another five minutes as the rest of the dragons filed into the clearing on way or another. Once it seemed that everyone had arrived the bell rang again as a massive silver dragon flew onto a platform in front of the audience with a man on his back. It was hard to get a good look at the man. Once the dragon landed, a crushing amount of spiritual pressure swirled around the dragon making some of the dragons around Toshiro cringe. Once the swirling energy subsided, it the dragons place was now a tall man with long silver hair and dark blue eye. Toshiro's eyes widened as he noted how much the man resembled him. He even had the same half bored look Toshiro himself always seemed to have, but his eyes were wild and dangerous.

'If I didn't believe you before, I definitely do now. . .'

 _Hmpf_

He then turned his attention to the brown haired man standing next to Dagateru.

'AIZEN!?' he internally panicked.

 **Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I just love them! Please review and I will hopefully get chapter 2 written soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for the reviews! I'm excited about this story. Please enjoy this chapter!**

Toshiro took a small step backwards reflexively at the sight of the cool faced one armed man. He suddenly felt the urge to run, but quickly realized that would only draw attention to himself. A small growl escaped his throat. Yasashi briefly looked at him with a confused expression before turning back towards the front once Dagateru started to talk.

'What the hell is Aizen doing here?'

 _Probably looking for you, young one. Since he's here though I can only assume he knows about your relationship to Dagateru. This isn't good._

"Good morning!" Dagateru bellowed in a deep voice that resonated throughout the courtyard. "I am glad that you all could me, I have a very important announcement." He paused for effect as his grin widened along with Aizen's "It seems that my son is still alive."

The dragons in the crowd murmured amongst themselves. It had long been thought that their leader's offspring had died at birth.

"My new friend here, Sosuke Aizen has informed me that he has seen my son himself and wants to help us find him as a gesture of good will." he put his arm around the burnett's shoulders, making the one armed man smirk. "My son's name is Toshiro and he has the ability to take on a human form, which he seems to prefer. I will offer a reward of one thousand gold pieces to whomever finds him." Chaos began to erupt in the crowd as everybody excitedly began to fly off in search of their leader's lost child. In the chaos Yasashi turned towards Toshiro with confusion written all over her face. She was smart, there was no way she didn't realize who he was now. Toshiro sighed and gestured her to follow him. He turned back to the platform for a moment to see Aizen carefully scanning the crowd for him. The burnett didn't seem to notice him yet so he took off out of the courtyard with Yasashi on his heels. She followed him all the way back to her humble cottage without a words, but once they entered the domicile she began to spill the thoughts in her head.

"You are Dagateru's son? Why didn't you tell me? I would have given you a more proper meal and a better place to sleep. And why does he not know you are here? Do you not want to see him?"

"Slow down please." Toshiro sighed. "I will explain everything, I owe you that much at least." He carefully recounted everything that had happened in the past year, along with elaborating on his past relationships with Aizen and the Gotei 13. He ended with the story the Guardian had shared about his parents.

She sighed as she took in his tale. He could see the thoughts whirling around in her head, but he remained silent until she spook.

"You should leave at nightfall, they will find you if you remain here." she smiled. "I can give you some supplies. I'm sorry I don't have much, but I can give you what I have." Toshiro sighed, she was too kind, she deserved a better life than what she had, and there was one way he could help.

 _Don't you dare do what you're thinking!_ The Guardian growled.

'I have to, they deserve the reward. It would really help them out, and she had been so kind and generous even though she has so little.'

 _It is a trap set by Aizen, Toshiro Hitsugaya! Do not be a fool_

'I'm tired of running away, besides this will be the last thing he's expecting. It might throw his plans off a little.'

 _I do not agree with this plan._

'I don't care, it's happening.'

 _Hmpf, stubborn child_

"Turn me in Yasashi." he announced solumely.

"What? Don't joke around like that."

"I'm serious, you and your family need the money, and I think I'm done running away from my problems." she smiled slightly to reassure her. She still frowned not liking the idea, but she nodded anyways.

/

"Lord Dagateru." a large black dragon interrupted the private conversation between the silver haired man and the burnett making the former frown slightly at the intrusion. They were standing on a balcony overlooking the town. He had just announced his son being alive just an hour ago and he was conversing with his new acquaintance when the guard had burst in.

"What do you want" Dagateru growled causing both Aizen and the black dragon to shiver slightly.

"Someone claims to have found you son." The dragon bowed asDagateru's mood instantly recovered.

"Bring them in." the dragon left and returned with a large purple dragon with a smaller silver dragon beside her. The guard followed behind them. The purple dragon bowed with respect as the silver dragon locked eye with the man, neither moving.

"Are you truly my son Toshiro?" the silver dragon snorted and released a whirlwind of spirit energy that transformed him into the silver haired young man he was accustomed to. Yasashi gasped slightly at his transformation, even though she knew he was Dagateru's son she had not sensed this much power within him. She suddenly felt less worried about him now.

Dagateru grinned at the sight, this was definitely his child. He sized him up as Toshiro stood in place with his arms crossed and a smug look on his face. He had glimpsed Aizen's slightly shocked expression when he showed up and it was very amusing. Dagateru walked over to embrace Toshiro.

"You are indeed my son. You look just like me." he laughed and then cocked his head to the side. "But I can see your mother in you as well."

Anger flushed in Toshiro's face at that last comment, but he held his tongue as his father looked him over before turning up to Yasashi.

"Thank you, you may go now." he waved her off.

"What about her reward?" Toshiro questioned.

"Oh right, right." he waved dismissively. He reached into his pocket and tossed the purple dragon a bag of gold that she caught.

"Thank you." she bowed to Dagateru but look at Toshiro as she spoke before quickly leaving the room. Toshiro then turned back to face his father and the man he hated most in this world.

"You seem tense, my son." Dagateru noted and he stepped to put his arm around Toshiro's shoulder. The younger man tried to squirm out of his grip, but the older man's grip tightened holding him in place. Toshiro then settled for glaring at Aizen instead. Dagateru noticed this and laughed.

"It seems my friend was right when he said you probably didn't like him that much."

"That may be an understatement." Toshiro sneered making Aizen smirk as well.

"If I may, Lord Dagateru." Aizen interjected smoothly. "I have helped you reunite with your son, may I be so bold as to ask for you to fulfill your half of the bargain?"

"Toshiro." Dagateru began as he turned towards the smaller man under his arm. "Aizen here says you have something that belongs to him. I would like you to give it to him." he squeezed Toshiro's shoulder for emphasis making the young man wince slightly.

"Not going to happen." Toshiro gritted out while glaring at Aizen who frowned slightly at this.

"Make it easy on yourself, Toshiro, and give me what I want." Aizen forced a smile on his face again.

"You want it? Come and take it. Unless you want me to bite off your other arm." Toshiro smirked. Dagateru roared with laughter.

"You bit off this man's arm? How amusing, you are definitely my son. Come we will talk about this more later. For now we must have a celebration." He steered Toshiro out of the room as he kept talking, leaving Aizen behind fuming as he began to follow the two dragons.

/

Toshiro felt his mouth drop open as he gazed at the banquet table full of food. It felt like ages since he had seen that much food in one place. There was enough food here to feed the entire village, of was everything from roasted deer, boar, and pheasant, to a large variety of vegetables and a few unidentifiable dishes. He awkwardly stood in the entire way gawking at the food until his father walked behind him and slapped him on the back snapping him out of his daze.

"Like it?" Dagateru grinned. "You can have meals like this everyday from now on."

Toshiro didn't know what to say. There was no way everybody in this room was going to eat all this food. There had to be a ton of leftovers. But what did they do with the leftovers? He hoped they didn't throw it all away, but he had a feeling that was probably the case. There was about twenty dragons in the room and at least fifteen of them were in human form. Everybody was busy conversing amongst themselves, but Toshiro could feel everyone taking their turn to size him up. Dagateru noticed his unease and put his arm Toshiro and steered him past the food and towards the balcony where he could see the entire village bathed in the orange glow of the sunset.

"You will get used to it, my son." he purred which gave Toshiro a slight chill. "Don't worry about them in there."

"But I don't plan on. . " he was interrupted as Dagateru rustled his hair making him growl slightly, he thought he was past the days where people did that to him.

"Just enjoy yourself tonight, kiddo." he patted Toshiro on the back again and handed him a beverage before walking off to mingle. Toshiro sighed and leaned in the balcony. The view was truly spectacular from up here. The little lights from the village danced starkly against the encroaching darkness. He pulled at the shirt collar around his neck. He wasn't used to fitted clothing, especially in the past years. His father had insisted on outfitting him with new clothing. Toshiro looked down at the fitted blue silk shirt and tan slacks. He felt out of place dressed like this.

"You should be thank me, Toshiro." Aizen purred from behind which caused Toshiro's anger to rise.

"Thank you?! Like hell I would ever thank you for anything." Toshiro spat as he faced the well groomed former Shinigami captain. The burnett stood smuggly between Toshiro and the party while he lazily held a wine glass in his remaining hand. He was dressed up in a smooth grey tux with a maroon colored tie. Aizen took a sip of his wine and stepped closer to Toshiro causing the younger man to instinctually take a step back and bump into the balcony railing without ever breaking eye contact. Aizen then chuckled in response.

"Here I am after all we have been through. You bit off my arm and continuously deny me the key to the Oken, and still I have reunited you with your father and given you a chance at the good life." he smugly retorted. While taking another sip of wine. Toshiro rolled his eyes and turned his back to Aizen once again facing out towards the town.

"Your plan won't work." Toshiro bluntly stated.

"Oh? And what makes you so sure?" Aizen teased. Toshiro turned back around and walked right up to Aizen sticking his face in his.

"I will never give you the Guardian nor the Oken, so you should just give up now. Besides," he leaned in closer for emphasis. "You can't touch me here." Toshiro then bumped into him aggressively as he headed back inside. Aizen smirked as he watched the young man storm off. It was always amusing to push his buttons.

Toshiro spent the evening getting introduced to many of the beings in the room. His father seemed rather eager to show him off to everybody in attendance. After several hours of feasting and socializing the crowd began to slowly shrink as everyone began to head home. Before he knew it only a handful of people remained, his father and of course Aizen being some of them.

"I'm getting tired." Toshiro yawned catching his father's attention.

"Come with me then, I will show you where you will be staying." Dagateru eagerly steered him out of the room and down the hallway, and after a few minutes of silence they arrived and the largest suite Toshiro had ever seen. Even his captain's quarters wasn't this large.

"I hope you enjoy living here, Toshiro. I'm glad I finally found you." Dagateru grinned and placed both his hands on Toshiro's shoulders. "Get some rest, I want to see you demonstrate your abilities to me tomorrow at dawn."

"It has been nice getting to meet you but I don't plan on staying long. . ." Toshiro trailed off as he saw his father's look turn darker. Dagateru sighed as he reached into his pocket.

"Sosuke said you would try and leave me so I had him make me this." before Toshiro could react Dagateru had snapped a metal ringlette around Toshiro's wrist. "I had hoped I wouldn't need this."

"What the hell?" Toshiro shouted as he jerked his arm away and frantically tried to remove the device without success.

"This will allow me to find you no matter where you are. It will stay on your wrist no matter what, even when you transform into a dragon. I'm the only one who can remove it." Dagateru glowered as he stepped closer to Toshiro causing to younger man to feel nervous under his intense gaze. The man could pierce steel with the look he was giving right now. "I have finally found you after all these years. You will not leave me now, and if you do." he paused for emphasis. "I know of your past relationships with the Shinigami. I know you were once a captain of the Gotei 13, so if you leave I will find you and then I will hunt down everyone you care about over there and kill them brutally."

"Don't you dare." Toshiro growled but his eyes were still wide from shock.

"Stay here with me and you will not have anything to worry about, my son." he spat before taking a softer tone. "Goodnight, I want to see your capabilities in the morning" Dagateru then turned on his heel and stormed off down the hall. Toshiro stood dumbfounded. He was trapped. He had been hoping to leave in the morning, but apparently Aizen had anticipated this move and planned ahead. Toshiro walked into the room and plopped on the bed.

 _I told you this was a bad idea._

'Shut up! There was no way you could have known about this,' Toshiro scowled.

 _No, but I know Dagateru, and I know he will do anything to get his way._

'Tch' Toshiro sighed, he was trapped. Aizen always seemed to be at least one step ahead of him. He jumped off of the bed and walked over to the balcony in his room that overlooked the town as well. Just a day ago he was freely soaring the skies, completely uninhibited, but now he was stuck here, with his crazy ass father that he has never known, and his worst enemy. Toshiro sighed and grabbed a pillow off the bed and laid out on the balcony. At least he felt comfortable sleeping under the stars.

 **Oh No Toshiro is trapped! What is in store for our favorite silver haired Shinigami/Dragon? Stay tuned to find out. Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for the reviews, I hope you are all enjoying the story so far. This chapter has a lot to it, so please enjoy!**

Toshiro panted as he dodged another ice attack aimed directly at his head. He swoop low as the ice pierced the sky when he had been just a second earlier. Diving low he released an attack of his own that Dagateru easily swatted away with his wings making Toshiro scowl again. They had been sparring for the past hour and no matter what he tried, his father was easily about to deflect, and it was beginning to frustrate him.

"You're going to have to do better than that, Toshiro." the larger dragon smirked as he swooped in slashing his claws at the smaller dragon's neck.

Toshiro blocked and kicked at his stomach with his hind legs barely making a scratch as Dagateru spun around and whipped his tail around knocking Toshiro right in the face and sending the young dragon crashing into the ground. Toshiro managed to stand back up just in time to roll away as the large dragon dove into the ground where he had just been. Toshiro used the opportunity to fire another ice blast that luckily caught onto the large dragon's wings freezing them solid. He smirked at the momentary success but his smile quickly faded as the dragon flexed his wings effectively breaking the ice. Roaring loudly the large dragon's shout sent out shockwaves that made Toshiro fall to the ground on his knees panting, and desperately trying not to fall flat on his face.

Dagateru snorted and transformed back into his human form. Toshiro transformed as well realizing the sparring match was over. He remained on his hands and knees trying to catch his breath as sweat dripped down his face. He knew his father was powerful but he had no idea how strong he actually was. It was a completely one sided match. Dagateru watched him for a minute before walking over.

"You definitely have potential, my son, but you still need a lot of practice." he sighed as he watched Toshiro stand up still huffing. "I will find someone to help you hone your abilities. Go clean yourself up." he briskly walked off back towards the castle.

Toshiro grunted, that was rather embarrassing, especially since Aizen had be casually sitting around and watching the whole thing. The burnett sat smuggly watching the silver haired man as he sipped a beverage in his hand. Toshiro stomped over to the man and stopped a few feet in front of him.

"I bet you found that pretty amusing?" Toshiro sneered making the man's smile grow.

"Extremely." he replied simply. Toshiro turned to leave but turned back holding up his wrist.

"I gotta admit, this was pretty clever of you to think of. I don't expect you to do something like this to keep me around."

"Always expect the unexpected, Toshiro. Remember that and you might stand a chance of beating me." Aizen winked. Toshiro rolled his eyes and stormed off towards the palace.

/

A few hours later Toshiro had taken advantage of the shower in his room and put on a fresh pair of clothes that his father had sent to his room. Wanting to clear his head after this morning, Toshiro decided to go into town for a little while. This whole place was beginning to feel suffocating.

As he wandered around looking for the exit he passed by his father's office. He glanced in briefly and saw the older man in full concentration working on a stack of paper on his desk. It was like looking into the future. He imagined he would have had a similar facial expression while he did his paperwork when he was still a captain in the Soul Society. He sighed and began to walk of when Dagateru called out to him without looking up.

"Where are you going, Toshiro?" he asked plainly. For some reason Toshiro felt like a child who had just been caught sneaking out without permission.

"I just want to go look around town." Toshiro answered.

"What's wrong with staying here?" Dagateru looked up from his paperwork to make eye contact with his son.

"I just feel like getting out of here for a bit." the young man shrugged. Dagateru looked at him for a bit before turning back to his paperwork.

"Be back by dinner." Dagateru demanded. Toshiro nodded and hurried off. That was a weird interaction.

Toshiro felt much better out of the castle and away from Aizen. He began to feel relaxed as he wandered through town amongst the dragons. This time everybody took time to watch him walk by. Dagateru had been quick to announce that he had been found yesterday, and now that he was wandering around in his human form, he relationship to Dagateru was apparent to everyone. This attention didn't seem to bother him too much though, he was just glad to get away. All though he couldn't go too far unfortunately, he sighed as he glanced at the metal band around his wrist. He needed to find a way to remove it.

As he wandered town he found himself heading back towards Yasahi's cottage and he decided to go say hello. He smiled slightly as he saw the young dragons chasing each other around the house.

"Toshiro! What are you doing here?" Yasashi greeted as she walked out of the house. The two young ones noticed him as well and flew over.

"Toshiro! You can turn into a human?" the small purple dragon questioned.

"That's so cool! You look just like Dagateru!" the blue one enthusiastically greeted while sniffing Toshiro's hair.

"I'm glad you two are doing well." he ignored their question and turned to Yasashi. "I just wanted to see how you guys are doing today."

"We are doing well thanks to you. I can't thank you enough for what you have done for us." she bowed her head slightly.

"It was no problem, I'm glad I could help in some way." he nervously reached up and scratched the back of his head. The metal bracelet caught Yasashi's attention and she frowned slightly at the sight of it. Toshiro noticed her concerned looks and quickly brought his arm back down.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." he tried to reassure her. She didn't buy it but changed the topic anyways.

"I'm glad you stopped by, Toshiro. You are welcome here." she bowed slightly. "We will be having dinner soon, would you care to join us?"

"I would love too, but my father expects me back for dinner." Toshiro replied noticing as the young dragon's faces fell. "But I will join you another day for sure." he quickly added making the young ones perk up again.

"You are welcome here anytime." Yasashi added.

"I will take you up on that, but I should probably start heading back. Take care." he waved as he headed back down the lane. He was glad to see they were doing well. Toshiro sighed and looked up into the sky. The day was starting to give away to the night as orange and pink light streaked across the blue sky and stars were beginning to appear. He longed to be soaring through the sky. To be feeling the wind rushing through his wings.

 _What's stopping you?_ The guardian chuckled.

Toshiro smiled and transformed into the silver dragon and jumped into the air. His mind felt at peace as he floated along side the clouds, chasing the sunset. It was so quiet and serene up here. He could soar for hours leaving all of his problems behind him. He spotted a mountain top in front of him that was free of trees and decided to land there. Transforming back into his human form he flopped onto the soft grass and gazed up at the stars as the sky began to darken. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and focused and the wind blowing through his hair. It was so easy to forget about all his problems up here.

He laid there for a good while and almost fell asleep until his stomach rumbled. It was time to eat something. Crap. He had forgotten to be back for dinner, it was definitely past dinner time now. He sat up and was about to transform when he felt a large thud behind him as the ground shook slightly. Knowing exactly who was behind him, he slowly turned around to face a very cross looking silver dragon.

"What did I tell you, Toshiro!" the dragon roared angrily. "I told you I would find you if you tried to leave."

"I'm sorry." Toshiro shrugged nervously as he stood up to face the angry dragon. "I was just enjoying the fresh air and the sunset and I lost track of time. I wasn't trying to leave."

"I'm finding that hard to believe." Dagateru growled.

"It's the truth!" Toshiro pleaded. "I am sorry I didn't make dinner, but I wasn't trying to leave. If I was, I would have gone farther without stopping. And it would be pointless as long of this device is on my arm. Since you were able to find me so easily."

"Alright I believe you." Dagateru snorted reluctantly. "Let's go."

Toshiro transformed and they both flew off back towards the town. Toshiro felt a little sad to be going back, he was really enjoying the freedom he had grown used to.

The two dragons flew back in silence as Toshiro flew slightly behind Dagateru. They both landed on the balcony of the castle next to the large dining room and transformed back into their human forms. The two silver haired men stood awkwardly looking at each other until Toshiro's stomach growled again. Dagateru snorted and walked towards the kitchen.

"I saved you some food, but I will not do it again. If you miss dinner again you will go without, understood?" he growled as he walked back onto the balcony with a plate of food for Toshiro. "Eat up and get to bed, you will begin training at dawn." he plopped the plate of food in his hands and immediately walked off.

Toshiro made a face and silently mimicked his father as he sat down at a nearby table to eat his dinner. It was cold, but he didn't care, it was just nice to eat something. He sat down quietly scarfing down the meal when footsteps caught his attention, and with a mouthful of food he turned around scowling.

"You had us worried, Toshiro, we thought you had left?" Aizen smirked with mock concern.

"Psht. Yeah right." Toshiro swallowed his food and quickly shoved more in his mouth.

"You know I can remove that band from your arm if you want?" Aizen innocently remarked making Toshiro choke a little as he swallowed. He looked at the brunette with wide eyed disbelief, but he quickly narrowed his eyes as he responded.

"And let me guess, all you want in return is the Guardian?"

"You know me too well, young dragon." the man bowed slightly.

"Yeah that's not going to happen." he stood up with his empty plate and brushed past Aizen as he took it to the sink and headed off towards his room.

"The offer stands if you change your mind." Aizen called after him.

/

'What are we going to do?' Toshiro thought internally as he ate his breakfast in his room.

 _For now there isn't too much we can do aside from play along._

'Yeah but we can't keep this up forever. I don't mind getting to know my father. He's a little overbearing, but it's not too bad I guess. What I can't stand is being this close to Aizen constantly. It's like he's always around the corner watching and I hate that.'

 _Just stay on your guard, young dragon. We will find a way to get that band removed from your arm so we can get out of here._

'But how? We don't even know where the key is kept, if there even is one. . .'

Their conversation was interrupted as Dagateru entered the room without knocking, grinning ear to ear.

"Are you ready, son?" he greeted once he spotted Toshiro lounging on the bed.

"I guess. . ." Toshiro sighed as he stood up and joined his father at the door and followed him down the hallway. The two men walked in silence until they came to a large training area on the back lawn of the castle grounds. There waiting in the middle was none other than Aizen smuggly waiting.

"Toshiro, I have decided this will be your trainer." Dagateru gestured towards the burnette.

"Nope." Toshiro announced as he turned on his heel to leave, but Dagateru shot out his hand and grabbed the collar of his shirt and jerked him back around.

"He will be your trainer and there is no getting out of it." he scolded as Toshiro pouted slightly. "I know you dislike him, so he will be perfect for you to train with. Your anger towards him will help you to tap into your true potential." he tried to reassure the young man as he put his arm around Toshiro and steered him towards Aizen. "Now, no fatal injuries from either of you. Sosuke you are to help my son reach his full potential are we clear?"

'Transparently." Aizen responded with a small bow.

"Very good." he slapped Toshiro on the back. "Follow his instructions, and I will see you for lunch." Dagateru turned and left, and the two men stood staring each other down until he was out of sight.

"Who would have guessed that after all that has happened, I would be the one to hone you abilities?" Aizen tilted his head.

"Whatever." Toshiro rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Well let's get started, my pet." he purred the old nickname making Toshiro's cheeks flare red with anger. "We will start with your hand to hand combat skills. No dragon powers, if we can perfect your martial arts you will not need to rely on your spirit energy as much. Which might come in handy one day."

Toshiro rolled his eyes again and quickly dropped into a sweep kick hoping to catch the man off guard. But Aizen easily jumped backwards avoiding the kick. Toshiro then sprang up with an uppercut that the burnette once again easily avoided.

"You need to do better than that if you want to hit me, young dragon." Aizen taunted making Toshiro growl lowly.

The two men spent the next hour sparring. Toshiro was mainly on offense trying to land a blow on Aizen who annoyingly always managed to be just out of reach with everything he tried. The young man had been able to land a few minor blow on the smug man occasionally, but nothing significant and it was beginning to piss him off.

"Come on you're not even trying anymore." Aizen taunted as he swatted away the young man's latest blow. Toshiro was fed up with this. This wasn't helping him one bit, and the last thing he wanted was to accept help from this man.

 _I don't think this as good idea._

'Oh shut up. I'm tired of this asshole messing with me.'

Toshiro began to tap into the Guardian's power and released a stream of fire at Aizen catching him entirely off guard. The burnette's eyes went wide as he barely managed to dodge the attack before it engulfed him entirely. He had not expected that. Aizen stood clutching the side of his face as it smoldered slightly.

"You will regret doing that, Toshiro." he growled bringing a small amount of satisfaction to Toshiro. The young man then proceeded to tap into his own dragon abilities and let out a stream of ice that encased the older man entirely freezing him in place.

"Why don't you just chill out here for a while." Toshiro smirked as he patted the ice and then walked away.

He immediately help better getting away from that man. He couldn't believe his father thought it was a good idea for him to train with that man, what a joke. Toshiro walked through the courtyard towards town. He could train by himself, he didn't need anyone, especially Aizen.

Toshiro continued to head away from the castle until his senses instantly alerted him to something behind him. He tried to turn around to see what it was but a hand quickly clasped a cloth around his mouth and nose. Toshiro frantically clawed at the hand, but failed to do anything as he felt his movements growing sluggish and his vision began to blur.

"You should have just played along, Toshiro." he heard the brunette mutter as consciousness left him.

/

Toshiro groggily felt sensations begin to return to him as his vision began to return to him. He instinctively put his hands out in front of him and felt the cool blades of grass in between his fingers. Where was he? He blinked a few times and was able to make out the shape of trees around him. Was he in the forest? How did he get here? Blinking a few more times Toshiro's vision became clearer. He was in the forest, but why?

Confusion aside, Toshiro stood up shakily on his legs and looked around. He was alone, but he noticed his backpack on the ground beside him. More questions than answers plagued his mind. The last thing he remembered was freeing Aizen in ice and walking away. No, something happened as he walked away. There was a cloth on his face, and he couldn't breathe. Was he drugged? He reached for his backpack, but the metal band on his wrist caught his attention. Wait a minute, if he was way out here, then his father would think. . .

His thought was lost as a massive clawed hand came out of nowhere and caught him hard against the chest and pinned him hard against a tree. Toshiro grunted trying hard to breath as a large silver snout was pressed up against his face.

"How dare you try and run away!" the dragon growled furiously.

"I didn't. . " Toshiro tried to ground out but the dragon pressed him further into the tree making it hard to breath.

"Don't you lie to me! Aizen told me how you cheated during your sparring match; trapping him in ice and declaring how you were going to make a break for it."

"I didn't. . . he's lying . . ." Toshiro managed to grounded out with the breath he could get.

"I don't believe you!" Dagateru roared wrapping his claws around Toshiro and throwing him into the ground only to pick up the young man again, squeezing him hard in his grip. Toshiro whimpered slightly.

"I'm telling the truth, I. . ."

"Maybe I should go pay a visit to your Shinigami friends." Dagateru threatened, making Toshiro's eyes go wide with panic.

"Please don't. They have done nothing." he realized in that moment that Dagateru was set in what he believed happened. Aizen had won this round. "I'm sorry. I really am. This will not happen again." he paused for emphasis. "I promise I will not try and leave again, just please do not hurt them." Toshiro pleaded. Dagateru growled for a moment, studying him carefully.

"Fine, I will give you this one warning, Toshiro." he tightened his grip. "But if you leave again, I will not hesitate to kill you friends."

Toshiro nodded in response, feeling defeated at the moment. The only thing he could do to protect them from Dagateru was to cooperate. The large dragon snorted and spread his wings taking off in flight with Toshiro still firmly in his grasp. Toshiro wanted to protest, but realized now wasn't the best time.

Dagateru flew for what seemed like hours as Toshiro uncomfortably rode in the dragon's grip. Eventually the two landed on the balcony to Toshiro's room and Dagateru released his grip allowing Toshiro to stand on his own.

"You are not allowed to leave to castle for a week. You are to stay within this building with the exception of your training sessions with Aizen." his father growled.

"What?! You're grounding me? I'm not a child!" Toshiro growled back.

"Fine, a month."

"What?!"

"Do you want to make it two?" he threatened.

Toshiro puffed his cheeks but remained silent knowing that protesting wouldn't help him at all.

"Good, one month it is then. And if I see you leave before then I will not hesitate to hunt down your Shinigami friends, so if you care about them you will listen to me." he then flew off leaving Toshiro all alone in his room.

 **Aizen always seems to be at least one step ahead of poor Toshiro. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did please review, it helps keep me motivated to keep writing!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Enjoy this next chapter!**

It was a lovely morning. The birds were singing, a gentle breeze was blowing through the air, and the sun was partially hidden by small white clouds. Toshiro stood on his balcony leaning on the railing, longing to be soaring in the skies. He was two weeks into his confinement within the castle and it was driving him crazy. He had hardly spoken to his father during this time, and he had already gotten bored with sitting in the library to read. His only time outside was when he was training with Aizen. If he could call it training. It was more like Aizen trying to bait him into losing his cool again and doing something stupid. He hated it, but what he hated more was the man's methods seemed to be working. He could feel himself getting stronger with all of their sparring matches. But he wasn't going to admit that.

That smug bastard had been overjoyed with how things had played out. He was constantly rubbing it in Toshiro's face that he was in fact 'grounded'. Like he was a child still, and Aizen found it very amusing. The young man had to constantly fight the urge not to rip the man's head off. But he was on thin ice with his father already and the last thing he wanted was for the older dragon to snap and go after the Shinigami in a rage.

Toshiro sighed, how did children not go crazy from this kind of punishment, it was like being a prisoner. Deciding he should be more productive with his day, Toshiro went to his bed and sat cross legged with his eyes closed and entered his inner world.

The icy plains were filled with howling wind that threw snow flakes in every direction.

"Hyorinmaru!" he called out, but his cries were drowned out in the wind. He waited for a moment but nothing happened. He need to calm this storm. Maybe he could find his friend if he could manage that somehow. Toshiro sat in the middle of the ice and focused on his meditative breathing. Nothing happened at first but eventually the storm began to calm. He focused harder trying to quell the wind even further, but he was finding it hard to concentrate. The storm was trying to prevail. He tried even harder, but the storm came back in full force. The young man sat in the middle of the ice storm unsure of what to do now.

Feeling defeated he exited his inner world and found himself wandering back to the balcony again. He really wanted to be away from here. He had grown accustomed to traveling constantly and it felt weird being in one place so long. It was making him ancy. Toshiro continued to daydream, and didn't even notice Dagateru enter the room.

The older dragon entered with his accustomed stern look plastered on his face, but he paused in his step and his look softened as he saw the young man leaned up against the balcony looking outside with longing. It reminded him of Hana the way he desired to be in the skies. The older man sighed and quietly walked up the Toshiro and gently put his arm around the young man's shoulder making him jump slightly from being startled.

"It's a nice day outside, isn't it?" Dagateru commented.

"Hmm." was all Toshiro said in response as he leaned away from the man's touch bringing a small flash of sadness to the older dragon's face that Toshiro missed.

"Come with me, there is something that I want to show you." the older man gestered after a minute as he jumped on the balcony and transformed into the massive dragon that barely fit on the railing. Toshiro raised an eyebrow suspiciously but followed the man's lead by transforming as well.

Once the were both in dragon form, Dagateru took off in flight and lead the two north of the village. Toshiro instantly began to feel better once he was out of the palace and in the bright sky, but he was still suspicious about what his father was up to.

The two dragons flew northward in silence for about an hour until Dagateru dove downward almost unexpectedly and landed at the foot of in mountain in the most beautiful lush valley Toshiro had ever seen. He landed beside his father and gazed in awe at this wonderful place. There was thick green grass throughout the valley and random clusters of trees surrounded by clearings with a perfect view of the sky. A small waterfall was cascading off a cliff at the far end of the valley, but it could be heard clearly throughout the valley. The sound was soothing and was only interrupted by the brief song of a random bird or two. Aside from them two, nobody else seemed to be around for miles. Toshiro took a step forward feeling completely enchanted by the place and changed back into his human form, relishing the feeling of the breeze through his hair.

"Your mother and I used to come here to get away from everyone." Dagateru sighed gently making Toshiro turn back around to look at him as he changed into his human self as well. "This was our little getaway. When we were stressed or frustrated, we would alway come here to enjoy the beauty of this place."

"I did not know you two were friends." Toshiro spat a little harsher than necessary, but he instantly felt bad when he saw a glimmer of emotion in his father's eyes that just as quickly vanished.

"Who told you we weren't?" he questioned the boy curiously. Toshiro hesitated before then decided to roll up his sleeve to reveal the guardian.

"He did." he announced quietly as Dagateru walked closer to inspect the intricate tattoo.

"Hinotsuchi?" the older dragon asked in a perplexed voice as he sniffed Toshiro's arm before growling slightly. "I thought I killed you a long time ago."

The tattoo glowed a little as a flash of spiritual pressure radiated from it.

"He says, he is not so easy to kill." Toshiro relayed making Dagateru snort in response.

"And I assume he told you all about how horrible I am along with every terrible deed I've committed. And how innocent your mother was in all this." Dagateru paused waiting for a response, but Toshiro's silence told him everything he said was true. "Well I will let you know that your mother wasn't perfect either. I bet he didn't tell you that we were childhood friends and that we had been promised to one another."

"What?" Toshiro asked with shock written on his face.

"Oh course he wouldn't mention that." Dagateru snorted. "Your mother was perfect in his and his brother's eyes, she could do no wrong. But she did. One the day we were to be bound as life partners, she left. I went after her, but when I found her she would have nothing more to do with me. And then she betrayed her own kind by helping out the Shinigami!" anger began to flare up in the older dragon's eyes. "I had no choice but to try and force her to return with me. . . Things didn't go exactly as planned, but I had every intention of taking care of her and you once you were born. I knew having a child with her would force her to settle down. I did not expect her to lie to me and tell me that you had died. My rage took over. . . I honestly don't even remember how exactly it happened." his temper began to turn solemn as he remembered. "Love makes you do crazy things, Toshiro." he half muttered to himself before turning to Toshiro. "At least I have you now. It makes me happy that you are alive after all."

Toshiro didn't know how to respond. He never expected that kind of emotion out of his seemingly cold hearted father. He just stood there in watched as Dagateru's eyes grew distant. He was probably reliving an old memory as a small smile crept up on his face.

'Is it true what he said?' Toshiro questioned the fire drake, who reluctantly answered.

 _Aye, it is true that they were old friends who were promised to each other. I didn't tell you because it didn't seem relevant at the time. Even so it does not excuse what he did to her._

Toshiro nodded internally in agreement, but still he couldn't help but feel kind bad for him. Dagateru snapped out of his thought and turned towards Toshiro once again, noticing in how this moment he looked alot like Hana. Sure most of his physical features resembled his own, but he soft facial expression at the moment and his eyes were exactly the way he remembered hers to be.

"You can come here anytime you like, Toshiro." Dagateru smiled slightly. "If you feel like getting away, you're angry, or you just want to be alone, you can come here. I will not pursue you if you are here." Dagateru transformed back into his dragon form. "And I will not tell Aizen where this place is."

"Thank you." Toshiro genuinely thanked him.

"Just please." he pause for emphasis. "Don't try and leave again, and be back for dinner." the large dragon flapped his wings and jumped into the sky once Toshiro nodded, leaving the younger man behind.

Toshiro watched him go and flopped onto the soft grass with a sigh. He was beginning to feel some sympathy for his father. Sure he had problems and his temper was definitely one of them, but he seemed to have good intentions for the most part.

 _Do not forget what he has done, Toshiro. He may seem to genuinely care for you as his child but don't forget that he is capable and willing to do anything to get his way, and that may spell trouble for you or your friends one day._

Toshiro didn't respond but he still took the Guardian's words to heart, it was something he should probably keep in mind.

The silver haired man closed his eyes as he relaxed in the cool grass. It was nice to have a place like this to go to. It was nice to be alone, and away from Aizen. He smirked a little at the thought, that bastard was probably start panicking once Dagateru returned without him.

After laying in the grass for a while, Toshiro took a stroll around the valley inspecting the trees and trying to spot the birds. Once he came up to the waterfall, he changed into his dragon form and flew through water a few times, relishing in the way the cool water felt on his scales. He then chases the water back up stream, just to follow it back down and carefully dive in the pool of water below. He flipped on his back and floated around for a while. Toshiro purred softly, he hadn't felt this relaxed in a very long time.

Once the sun began to set in the west, Toshiro knew it was time to go. It made him a little sad to leave, but he was happy that he was allowed to freely return whenever he wanted to. The young dragon jumped into the sky and began his flight south back towards the village.

/

Aizen sipped a glass of wine with a frown on his face as he watched Dagateru return alone. He had witnessed Toshiro flying off with him, so it was concerning that he was now alone. Deciding to find out where his prey was he walked over to the courtyard where the large dragon had landed.

"Good afternoon." he greeted with a small bow. "How was your flight?"

Dagateru snorted but otherwise ignored him making Aizen frown again.

"I hate to bring it up again, but I would like the item your son has returned to me as promised for returning him to you." Aizen prodded as the dragon took on his human form.

"I do not know what he has of yours, Sosuke, but why don't you ask him for it once he returns." the dragon waved with little concern.

"I'm concerned that you don't realize what your son has." Aizen asked curiously catching the dragon's attention.

"What could my son possibly have that is so important?"

"The key to the Oken." Aizen announced causing the dragon's eyes to widen in shock. "He is the only one who can find the key to destroying the Shinigami once and for all." Dagateru walked up to Aizen with a crazy fire in his eyes.

"Where could he possibly be hiding it?" Dagateru questioned excitedly.

"It's that tattoo on his arm, that dragon spirit is the one who knows where to find the Oken."

"Interesting. . . then we will remove him from Toshiro one he returns." he wondered aloud with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Unfortunately it is not that simple. He has to give him over willingly. Trust me I've tried." Aizen sighed.

"I will talk to him and see what I can do." Dagateru grinned as he headed into the castle followed by Aizen.

/

Toshiro landed on the balcony of the dining room right as dinner began, and he transformed back into his human form with a smile on his face. The time spent alone in that valley had put him in a pretty good. That is until he looked up to see not only his father but Aizen at the table waiting for him too. His smile fell as he reluctantly sat at the end of the table and began to help himself to the food laid out in the middle.

The air was heavy with tension as nobody talked and he felt them watching his every move. Toshiro took a few bites returning the stares of the two men.

"Toshiro." Dagateru broke the silence. "So nice of you to actually join us for dinner."

"Uh sure." Toshiro raised an eyebrow.

"Now, son, I think it's time you give Aizen what you owe him." Toshiro put back down the bite of food on his fork.

"I don't owe him anything." Toshiro responded flatly.

"I know what you have, or should I say what Hinotsuchi has." Dagateru glared intently as Toshiro returned the glare with equal force.

"What are you insinuating?" Toshiro demanded while narrowing his eyes.

"Hand him over, Toshiro." Dagateru growled.

"No." Toshiro stubbornly refused as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Don't make this difficult on yourself." the older dragon growled.

"I will never hand over the Guardian of the Oken." Toshiro stood and slammed his hands on the table and stormed out of the room.

Dagateru pounded his fists into the table angrily making it crack beneath his fists.

"Stubborn ass child!" the dragon growled. "The Oken is what would make defeating the Shinigami finally possible and he would deny me that!" He began to angrily pace around the room. "A way to finally reach the Soul King and end the Shinigami's reign."

"I think I might have a way to get the Oken." Aizen smirked getting Dagateru's attention. "It's rather simple actually, here's what we have to do. . ."

 **Toshiro is getting to know his father a little bit better, but what is he going to do now that Aizen is stirring up old ambitions in Dagateru. Stay tuned to find out, and please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Despite their argument over the Guardian a few nights ago, Toshiro had still been given permission to take trips out to the secluded valley whenever he wanted. In fact the that topic never came up again, and his father had been acting like it had never happened in the first place. He found it odd at first, but he dismissed it after a while. Maybe he came to his senses and realized he couldn't for him to hand it over.

The young dragon was gracefully soaring through the clouds on his way back from the valley. He had been spending every day there after his training sessions with Aizen. It was a nice way to clear his thoughts, especially after being around that infuriating man.

The town came into view as Toshiro flew over the mountain. He was returning a little earlier today than he had been recently. He was hoping to clean up and go visit Yasashi and her children before dinner. He hadn't seen them in a few weeks, and they were probably the closest friends he had around here. He had met a few other dragons around here that he had gotten along with, but not as much as Yasashi and her offspring. For the most part all the other dragons simply stayed out of his way and muttered amongst themselves as he passed. Nothing he wasn't already used though.

Toshiro gently landed on the balcony of his room and changed back into his human form. Lifting his arm and taking a quick sniff, he quickly realized how badly he need a shower. The young man began to take off his dirty clothing and quickly jumped into the shower. The warm water felt excellent on his sore muscles. As he washed himself he noticed all the scars that adorned his body in random places, and each one brought back a specific memory. He sighed and shook the memories from his head. He was in too good of a mood today to ruin it.

Once he was finished with his shower, the silver haired man jumped out and quickly dried himself off with a towel. He then rustled it through his hair before wrapping it around his body. The young man walked over to his closet and pulled out a fresh set of clothing to put on. After getting dressed and fixing his hair how he liked it, Toshiro stepped out of his room and headed down the hallway with intentions of informing his father where he was going next. He had decided it was best to at least let him know where he would be so he wouldn't freak out and hunt him down again.

Toshiro quietly walked down the hallway, but came to a sudden stop when he saw his father's office door open ajar and could hear his father and Aizen conversing in hushed voices. Curiosity got the best of him as he soundless crept up to the door to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"I can't believe you managed to find it!" Dagateru grinned excitedly. Both men had their backs to the door, so Toshiro managed to take a quick peek inside. He wasn't able to see anything though but he could tell they were huddling around something.

"It was actually rather simple to find once I figured out where to look." Aizen replied eagerly.

"At long last, the Oken. . ." Dagateru grinned. Toshiro's eye widen and his hand flew over his mouth to keep from gasping aloud. He turn away from the door and pressed his back up against the wall.

 _That's impossible!_ The guardian was equally shocked.

'How could he have found it so easily?!'

 _I have no idea, but this is very troubling news. We need to find the key to removing that tracker from your arm right away. We have to go check and see for ourselves if they truly found the Oken._

'I agree, but how are we going to do that? There is no way the key is just lying around.'

 _It possible that it is hidden in his office somewhere, and if not there then in his bedroom._

'Ok, we will look for it tonight after he goes to sleep.'

 _Good, we will get the key and leave the tracker in your room so we can go check on the Oken's location and make it back before dawn._

Toshiro nodded in agreement as he heard the two men begin to discuss attack strategies on the Soul Society. Feeling entirely panicked, Toshiro walked away from the door and headed back to his room.

He spent the next few hours pondering how any of this was even possible, and if it was he would need to find a way to warn the Soul Society. He paced back and forth lost in thought until the Guardian reminded him that he should join his father for dinner before he got suspicious. Reluctantly Toshiro tried to calm his emotion before heading down the hallway and towards the dining area.

"Welcome back, Toshiro." Dagateru grinned excitedly. "How was your trip to the valley today?"

"It was as pleasant as usual." Toshiro sighed as he sat down. It was just his father and him at dinner today. Aizen was nowhere around. The two men began to eat their food in silence.

"You seem quiet today, my son. Is something wrong?" the older dragon prodded.

"Nope, everything is fine and dandy for me." Toshiro replied in a slightly nervous tone that made the older dragon raise an eyebrow, but he didn't question it further. Once they finished their dinner, Dagateru signaled a nearby servant who proceeded to clear the table.

"I have somewhere to be tomorrow, Toshiro, and Aizen will be joining me, but I still expect you to continue practicing your training exercises."

"Yes, sir." Toshiro sighed.

"Very good, and I expect you to still be here when I return. I will be going to bed early tonight so I can leave early." He stood up and walked past Toshiro and patted him on the head. "I will you when I return."

Toshiro waved goodbye and sat for another moment before heading to his own room. He spent the next few hours impatiently pacing his room until he was sure that it was late enough for his father to be sound asleep.

He peeked his head out the door, making sure nobody else was wandering the hallways, and he silently headed down the hallway towards his father's office. The young man paused for a minute to listen and make sure nobody was in there before quietly slipping inside the dark room. The moon shone in through the window thankfully so he had a little bit of light to help him search the room.

He silently check Dagateru's desk, and the few book shelves in there before he was convinced the key wasn't in there. With a sigh he left the office and crept further down the hallway until his came up to his father's bedroom. Toshiro gently placed his ear against the door and waited until he could hear the soft snores coming from the older man. Gulping nervously, Toshiro soundlessly opened the door and slipped inside. He paused for a moment, carefully taking in the layout of the room before proceeding with his search. The room was at least twice the size of his own, but there really wasn't too much to it. There was a large balcony on the right side that was wide open to let in the night air. His bathroom was on the far right, and the middle was filled with a few tables and chairs and a couple of chests. But what caught his attention was a small metal box underneath the master bed in the middle of the room. Toshiro was certain that was where the key was hidden.

Slowly, one step at a time he crept over to the bed, pausing to make sure his father was truly asleep, Toshiro knelt down and pulled out the small box. Fortunately for him, the box had a lock on it, but the lock wasn't pushed all the way closed so he easily removed it and opened the box. There were a few random objects in the box including a picture of his mother that made him pause for a second, but he quickly put it down. He didn't have anytime to waste. Grinning, he picked up a small key out of the box that he was sure would fit the metal band. His father snorted in his sleep as he rolled over to change positions, making Toshiro freeze.

After a minute though, Dagateru's breathing resumed the soft snore it had been at and Toshiso released a pent up breath he didn't realize he was holding. Quietly he placed the box back under the bed and hurried out of the room.

He reached his bedroom without incident and quickly tried the key on the metal band. And with a large grin on his face he turned the key and with a small snap the tracker came free of his wrist. Toshiro had to keep himself from shouting out excitedly. He was finally free. He placed the bracelet on his bed just in case, and quickly jumped into a Shunpo.

He needed to get into town before he turned into a dragon. He couldn't risk alerting anyone to his spiritual pressure. Stealthily he avoided a few dragons that were on patrol, and once he was out of town he transformed into a dragon and took flight towards the west.

The Guardian gave him directions, and after a few hours of flying, they arrived at a small cave that was so tucked away in the mountains, that you could miss it if you didn't know what you were looking for. Silently, Toshiro took on his human form again and crept inside. The place looked like it used to house a dragon, but had long ago been abandoned. The Guardian guided Toshiro to the back of the cave until he found a small door hatch on the floor that was hidden under a rug. He grabbed a nearby candle and after lighting it, he carefully climbed down a small ladder until he found himself in a small room. The room was small enough to be lit up by the candle he held. He set the candle down on a nearby table, carefully looking at the various pictures tacked on the wall.

There was a variety of pictures, some with just his mother, others that included Hyorinmaru and Hinotsuchi, and even a couple of Hana and Dagateru. Toshiro looked at these for a minute, but his eyes were quickly drawn to the large golden key sitting in an open box in the middle of the room. He could feel the immense power radiating from the object as he approached it. The symbols inscribed on the sides seemed to chant quietly as the reached out and touched it. Mesmerized, Toshiro picked up the Oken.

'Why would my father and Aizen think that they have the Oken when it is clearly here?' he twisted his face in confusion.

 _I don't know, young one, but something doesn't feel right. We should go._

Toshiro nodded and climbed up the ladder with the Oken in his hand, but the second his foot touched the cave floor above a large clawed hand swept him off his feet and knocked him into the cave wall. Feeling slightly dazed Toshiro tried to stand up, but froze in place when he felt a metal band click around his neck. He could instantly feel his spiritual pressure being sealed by the device. His free hand flew up to the metal collar in disbelief as he looked in the smug faces of Aizen and Dagateru in his dragon form.

"Well done, Toshiro." Aizen applauded slowly. "I knew you would take the bait and rush over here the first chance you got."

Toshiro stood dumbfounded as he instinctually backed up against the cave wall. This had been a trick the whole time. It was just a ploy by Aizen to get him to reveal the location of the Oken, and he had fallen for it.

"There is nowhere you can go, Toshiro." the dragon growled as he reached out his hand. "Hand over the Oken."

Toshiro realized he was powerless with this collar around his neck. He couldn't change into a dragon and he couldn't use his Shinigami abilities, but there was no way he could hand Aizen victory without a fight. Without hesitation, Toshiro reached down and grabbed a handful of dirt, throwing it in Aizen's face. He used the opportunity to quickly dive past the burnette. Dagateru reached for the silver haired man, but missed as Toshiro rolled out of the way and sprinted towards the exit. He paused for a second when he realize how high up he way. Dagateru in a rage whipped his tail around catching Toshiro on his side and knocked him up against the cave wall again. Panting for the breath that was just knocked out of him Toshiro dodged another blow from his father and head to the exit again. The dragon reached out to grab him, but ended up slashing Toshiro across the back, leave two deep gashes in his back and severing his right hamstring. The young man fell to the ground in agon letting out a cry of pain. Aizen walked up beside the dragon smiling wickedly as his prey was wounded and pinned up to the edge of the cave. Toshiro stared them down with all the strength he had and he panted, gripping his leg in one hand and the Oken in another.

"There is nowhere to go, my son. Hand over the Oken. I do not wish to harm you further."

Toshiro turned his head to look down the cliff, it was about a fifty foot drop, but the side of the cliff was sloped with a dense forest below. He could probably survive that.

 _Don't do it Toshiro!_

'I won't let Aizen win.'

Toshiro turned back to his attacker and smirked before throwing himself off backwards.

"No!" Dagateru roared as he reached out to catch the falling young man but he was unable to catch him.

Toshiro grunted as he rolled down the cliff, hitting what felt like most of the the rocks on the way down. He grunted in agony as he finally landed on the ground. His entire body felt sore and his arm right arm was most likely broken as it turned at an abnormal angle to the side. He bit into his lip as he held back a cry, popping the bone back into place. The young man tried to stand, but failed to thanks to his severed hamstring. He needed to find a way to hide the Oken the frantically thought as he drug himself over to a nearby tree, panting from the effort.

"Toshiro is that you?" a female voice caught his attention. Toshiro looked up in shock to see Yasashi staring at him in bewilderment.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" he asked her suspiciously.

"I like to come hunting out here, what's going one, why are you so injured?" she asked in a very concerned voice.

 _She may be our only hope. Send the Oken with her, she can get it to safety._

"I need you to do something for me. . ." he paused to catch his breath. "I need you to take this to the Soul Society. It is extremely important that you get it there before anyone can find you." he handed the large key to her. "It is the Oken."

"What?!" She backed up slightly in shock.

"Please. . ." he begged, she could see his desperation and nodded in agreement, taking the golden key. "Find a Shinigami named Ichigo Kurosaki, he is the only one capable of protecting it from Aizen. Go get your children and leave for the Seireitei immediately or you will all be in danger." He winced in pain as he leaned back against the tree.

"Let me help you." she begged.

"This is the best way you can help me, my father won't let me die, but if they catch you here with the Oken, you and your children will." he pause for a minute. "Let me see your hand."

She reluctantly reached out and he grabbed her arm and began to chant quietly as the dragon tattoo on his arm began to stir as it slithered from his arm and onto hers. Toshiro immediately felt a loneliness in his soul as he parted with the Guardian. Yasashi looked at the tattoo and back at Toshiro in confusion.

"He will protect you and your family, now go!" he commanded. She bowed slightly and hurried off through the trees.

Toshiro leaned back and sighed. This was his best chance to keep the Oken out of Aizen's hands. He felt sad parting with the Guardian, it was almost like losing Hyorinmaru all over again.

After a few more minutes he felt the thud of Dagateru landing beside him with Aizen. He turned back into his human form and look at Toshiro with concern written on his face. The young man was battered and bruised, his arm was purple and swollen and he had a pool of blood dripping down the tree behind him.

"Just hand over the Oken, Toshiro." Aizen smirked, he was obviously enjoying Toshiro's pain.

"It's gone." Toshiro smirked as well making Aizen frown.

"What do you mean it gone?" Aizen demanded while grinding his teeth together angrily.

"It's not here, and you will never get it." Toshiro gasped as Aizen struck him hard against the face.

"Where did you hide it!" Aizen growled furiously he reached out to hit Toshiro again, but Dagateru caught his hand.

"That's enough, Aizen."

Aizen glared at the dragon but he was busy watching as Toshiro lost consciousness and slumped against the tree.

 **Whew, that was intense, what is going to happen next? Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

It was a peaceful morning in the Seretetie as the orange haired Shinigami strolled down the streets enjoying the sunrise. Most of the Shinigami were still asleep. Everybody had been working nearly non stop to restore the place after defeating Aizen about a year ago. There wasn't too many of them, but everybody pitched in equally, rank didn't really hold meaning anymore. It had taken a long time to repair the structural damage to the Soul Society, but that was finally almost at completion. Now would begin repairing the social structure of things.

They had discussed re-establishing a ranking system some time in the near future, and possibly changing the number of squads. Mainly due to the fact that most of the captain level Shinigami had been killed in Aizen's takeover, and the number of Shinigami remaining who could hold such a rank were only a few. Of course he had been recommended to take a captain's position, but he wasn't so sure yet. They had also offered it to Ikkaku, Yoruichi, and Urahara. Nothing was set in stone though.

"Yo, Ichigo. You're up early." the lithe blue haired former Espada approached the younger man. After Aizen's defeat, Ichigo had convinced Grimmjow to stick around the Soul Society. He didn't really have anything in Hueco Mundo to return to anyways. The other Shinigami had been reluctant at first, but they could use all the help they could get so they decided to give him a chance.

"I can say the same about you." Ichigo snorted watching the arrancar half stumble over to him. Grimmjow and Rangiku had become fast drinking buddies, and they would often wake up only half sober. He always figured Grimmjow was one to drink frequently, and Rangiku too. But he knew her reasons for drinking were different from his. She desperately missed Toshiro, and it had hurt her that he had left without saying goodbye.

"Tch, I've been up all night, Kurosaki." Grimmjow scoffed as he reached Ichigo and thumped his hand down on the orange haired man's shoulder. "You up for a fight?"

"Like you could even pose a challenge in your current state." Ichigo shoved his hand off.

"What are you implying?" Grimmjow growled.

"It would be completely one sided, Grimmjow." Ichigo snorted.

"Oh yeah?" the arrancar's grin only grew. "Why don't we put that theory of yours to the test then."

"Bring it on then, Grimmjow!" the two men butted heads in a battle of will as almost visible sparks flew between the two men. They both placed their hands on the hilts of their Zanpakuto ready to begin, but they were both distracted sirens that began to go off around town. There was an intruder. Both men instantly dropped their hands and flash stepped over towards the wall to see what was going one.

The siren woke up the remaining Shinigami who were asleep, and within minutes everybody was at the wall ready for battle.

"What is it?" Hisagi questioned as they squinted to see an object approaching from the North.

"Is it Aizen?" Ikkaku grinned, excited for the potential of another battle.

"I doubt Aizen will be flying through the sky." Yumichika sneered.

"Well you never know!" Ikkaku defended.

"It's a dragon!" Rangiku shouted excitedly, hoping it was her lost captain.

"Is it Toshiro?" Ichigo wondered aloud.

"Huh, not unless he has kids now." Kenpachi sneered, making Rangiku's grin fall. It was obviously not Toshiro now that the dragon was closer. Toshiro was a silver dragon and this one was a dull purple with two small blue and purple dragons following it closely. Seeing the Shinigami the Dragon landed on a roof not too far from the wall, but far enough encase she needed to flee.

"I'm looking for an Ichigo Kurosaki." the female dragon announced once she settled with her babies. The Shinigami looked at each other nervously until the orange haired man stepped forward.

"I'm Ichigo, what do you want?"

"I have been sent by Toshiro to give you something important."

Everybody's eyes went wide especially Rangiku. Ichigo jumped from the wall over towards the dragon, making her growl defensively. He held out his hands in a gesture of peace.

"Whoa, I'm not going to hurt you. You know Toshiro? Where is he, is he alright?" Ichigo questioned making the large dragons facial features drop.

"It's a long story, he's hurt, but I think he will alright. He is with his father, but there is also another Shinigami there named Aizen that he said is trouble."

Everybody gasped at the mention of Aizen.

"He sent me to give you this." she continued. "He said Ichigo was the only one who could protect it from Aizen." she handed over the large golden to Ichigo. "It's the Oken."

"No way!" was all Ichigo could get out.

"I would like to stay here with my children." she half demanded. "I want to help Toshiro keep this safe. He has helped me and my children out, and we can not go back there, not while Aizen is around."

"Any friend of Toshiro's is a friend of ours, you are welcome here." Shunsui announced, and everybody nodded in agreement.

"But what are we going to do with this?" Ichigo turned and asked. "Aizen will surely come here once he knows where it is."

"And possibly an army of dragons." Yasashi interjected.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked.

"Our leader, Toshiro's father is a powerful dragon named Dagateru, and he greatly dislikes Shinigami, but he has taken a liking to Aizen, so i can imagine he would follow Aizen here."

"What about Toshiro?" Rangiku cried. "What's going to happen to him?"

"I don't know" Yasashi shook her head sadly. "His father is impulsive and blood thirsty, but he cares for his son, he has no other offspring, so I do not believe he will let Toshiro die. But I know he caused some of the injuries he has."

"You have had a long journey I'm sure." Shunsui announced warmly. "Why don't you and your children come into the Seireitei with us and we will get you something to eat. We can discuss this more once you have rested."

Yasashi bowed in gratitude.

"Thank you."

/

Toshiro groggily came to. His head was pounding and his whole body was in pain, especially his right arm. He instinctively reached out to ask the Guardian what had happened, but his memories came back to him and he remembered why he was injured and that he had sent him with Yasashi to help keep her safe. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times to clear the fogginess from his vision. He was in his bedroom surprisingly; he was half expecting a dugen of sorts.

He looked down and noticed his right arm was bandaged tight and supported by a sling that went around his neck. His right leg was banaged just as tightly around his thigh, along with his midsection. The young man noticed several more random bandages around his body as well. He also noticed the tracking band was back around his arm much to his dismay. With his good arm he reached up and felt the metal band still around his neck and sighed. Well that explained why he wasn't chained up to anything. There wasn't much he could do without his powers and in the condition he was in.

"Good morning Toshiro" a voice cheerfully rang out that succeed in pissing him off. There in the corner sat none other than Aizen smiling away, but his eyes were full of rage. He took it that Yasashi had succeeded in escaping with the Oken. Toshiro scoffed at the man, not feeling like answering him.

"Oh not feeling chatty today? I understand." Aizen stood from his chair and approached the young man. "I will cut to the chase then. I will only ask you once nicely. Where is the Oken?" he growled at the end.

Toshiro stared him down for a minute before opening his mouth and spitting in the man's face. Aizen reached up and calmly wiped the spit from his face before reaching into his pocket and shoved a rag into the young man's mouth. Toshiro was puzzled by the action at first until Aizen then reached over and gripped his broken arm, hard, making the young man scream in pain, but the sound was muffled by the rag in his mouth. After a moment of agony, Aizen removed both his hand and the rag from Toshiro leaving the young man panting and sweet dripping down his face.

"Now let's try this again, where is the Oken."

"F**** you!"

Aizen repeated his actions, but this time squeezing harder until blood began to show up on the bandages. Toshiro's vision began to dance in front of his eyes when Aizen let go this time. The older man then leaned in and stuck his face in Toshiro's.

"I will find out who helped you, and when I do I will kill them in the most painful way imaginable and I will make you watch."

"Good luck finding them!" Toshiro growled leaning forward for emphasis, both of their faces only inches apart as Toshiro growled at him. Aizen studied his face for a minute before smiling, making Toshiro raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"I think I know who helped you." Aizen began smugly. "Her children didn't show up for school today, and her little cottage was found empty." Toshiro's eyes widened.

"So I assume."Aizen began as he shot out his hand and gripped Toshiro's chin hard, firmly holding his face in place as the young man tried to squirm away. "That you sent her to the Soul Society with the Oken. That would be the most logical thing to do." Aizen smirked as he watched panic enter Toshiro's eyes. He enjoyed watching the boy suffer.

"What's going on in here." Dagateru growled slightly as he entered the room.

"Just having a little chat." Aizen didn't break eye contact with Toshiro as he let go of his chin and patted his cheek roughly. The burnette stood up and walked towards the older dragon. "I found out where you son hid the Oken." Dagateru's eye widened with excitement. "I will tell you the details later." Aizen patted his shoulder and left the room after briefly turning to give Toshiro another smug look.

Dagateru noticed the look and sighed as he walked over to Toshiro and set down a tray of food he brought in. Toshiro was glaring at him, carefully watching his movements. The older dragon sat on the side of the bed and brushed Toshiro's bangs out of his face, but the young man jerked away from his touch.

"I told you not to make things difficult on yourself." the older dragon sighed. "If you had just cooperated none of this would have happened."

"You didn't have to do any of this." Toshiro spat.

"I have to, son, the Shinigami are an evil that this world does not need, and the Oken is the key to destroying them once and for all."

"They are not the evil ones, Aizen is!" Toshiro shouted, wincing a little at the pressure it put on his back. Dagateru could feel his rage beginning to rise again.

"The Shinigami have hid you from me your entire life, and now they have even turned you against me." he shouted as he stood up with his hands balled into tights fists. "You are more loyal to them than you are to me, your father."

"I. . ." Toshiro began, but his father held up his hand silencing him.

"I will not make you go through the difficult decision of choosing between me or them." he paused for a second. "Because I am going to destroy them all so you will only have one option."

"NO! You can't do that!" Toshiro screamed as he tried to frantically stand up only to fall back down crying out in pain from his injuries. Dagateru just watched with a pained look at the sight of his injured son before him.

"It's their fault you are hurt like this, Toshiro." he said softly as his eyes began to slightly water.

"They are not the ones who did this to me father." Toshiro growled as he tried to get his pain under control.

"But if you weren't so set on protecting them, this would have never happened." Dagateru screamed. He then paced a few times past the bed lost in his rage. He then looked up at Toshiro with a determined look in his eye. "I will end this Toshiro, and then you will not have to be hurt again." Dagateru turned to storm out of the room.

"No! Please, father!" Toshiro called out as he tried to get up again only to once again fall back as intense pain causing him to cry out from the shock. "Please. . ." tears poured down his face as he thought about his former comrades and friends trying to take on the powerful dragon and his army.

The young man tried to force himself up again, but to no avail, his leg would not move with his current injuries. Not to mention the collar around his neck that effectively sealed off his spiritual pressure. Without his powers, healing would take even longer.

Toshiro banged his head against the headboard a few times in frustration. This was the worst situation imaginable. Aizen knew where to find the Oken, Dagateru was on a mission to wipe out the Seireitei, and he was stuck in this bed unable to help his friends. He began to panic.

Toshiro then found himself delving into his inner world again, searching for Hyorinmaru, the Guardian, anyone. For the first time in a long time he was completely alone. He slumped down in the middle of the ice fields as the storm swirled around him. Feeling the full weight of his loneliness and the situation he was in, Toshiro put his head into his hands and began to sob. He had never felt so helpless before, yet here he was.

The storm raged on around him, and for some reason he began to feel a certain level of comfort from it. He began to feel peace in the middle of this chaotic storm. His tears stopped and he stood up and closed his eyes, accepting the storm around him. He tilted back his head and extended his arms trying to become one with the energy around him, and then it happened. It was small at first and he almost wasn't certain that he had even heard anything, but he did. A gentle voice that built up into a roar. He smiled and opened his eyes.

'Hyorinmaru.' he spoke softly and the storm immediately calmed around him, and he looked up into the red eyes of the ice dragon before him. The two stood smiling at each other in silence before Toshiro broke into a run to greet his old friend. He wrapped his arms around the dragon's neck and buried his face into the icy scales. 'I'm so happy that I finally found you.'

 _Me too, young dragon._ The ice dragon purred as he wrapped a wing around the silver haired man.

'I didn't think I would ever get to see you again.' Toshiro began to sob again.

 _I've been here the whole time, Toshiro. You just weren't listening. You had to accept the storm inside you before you could find me._

The two sat like that for what seemed like hours before Toshiro pulled away to look at the dragon again and make sure he was truly there.

'We have to stop Aizen and my father.' Toshiro announced as he wiped away the remaining tears.

 _And we will! But first we need to heal you, you can't help anybody in the condition you are in now._

'But how, my spiritual pressure is sealed by this damn collar, so there is nothing I can do to expedite it.'

 _Yours may be, but mine is not._ The large dragon growled with enthusiasm, _Go to sleep, Toshiro Hitsugaya. You will feel better in the morning._

Toshiro smiled and closed his eyes and quickly falling asleep while hold on to Hyorinmaru's neck and listening to the gentle hums of his Zanpakuto.

 **Thank you for those of you who are kind enough to review, I love to hear from those of you who enjoy this story. In the darkest moments that is when it can be easiest to see the light. Toshiro has found his light once more.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you for the wonderful reviews. Here is the next chapter, enjoy!**

The Shinigami had been sitting in discussion for what felt like hours, and everybody was beginning to get frustrated by this point. There was just no clear answer on what to do with the Oken to keep it safe from Aizen. They had all agreed that Aizen would eventually figure out that it was here, so they would need a battle strategy for when that happened. But the question remained on where to secure the Oken.

"The old Kuchiki manner has secure vaults that still remain, we should hide it there." Byakuya suggested.

"Nah, that won't do, if Aizen can feel out its power we will have no way to protect it since the manner is out of the Seireitei." Shunsui sighed.

"Why doesn't Urahara create some sorta pocket dimension for it?" Ichigo suggested.

"That would be a good idea, Ichigo if I had the resources and time to create such a thing." Urahara waved his hand.

"Why are we even bother hiding it." Kenpachi interjected. "I say we hold it out and wave it in his face when he shows up. That'll bait him into a good fight."

"I agree, Kenny!" Yachiru shouted.

"What a stupid idea." Byakuya grunted.

"You say something, Kuchiki?" Kenpachi stood up defensively.

"Apparently you're deaf too, I said, what a stupid idea." the former nobel drew out the last part for emphasis, making the large man's eye twitch as he grabbed for his Zanpakuto.

"Alright let's settle down." Shunsui stood in between the two men.

"You know he kinda has a point." Ichigo added getting everyone's attention. "If Aizen knows it's here, there isn't too much we can do to hide it. We should for sure find a safe place for it, but if he manages to defeat us all then nothing will stop him from finding it."

"I agree with Kurosaki on this one." Grimmjow added. "Instead of focusing on where we are going to hide it, we need to focus on what we are going to do to beat this bastard."

"Grimmjow is right." Urahara agreed. "The best we can do is hide it deep within the first division's barracks and do our best to fight off Aizen and any army that is following him." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Good then I guess we have finally reached a decision then." Shunsui smiled. "Everybody I suggest you spent your time training, because there will not be any second chances with this fight. Get some rest and start practicing first thing in the morning."

"Wait!" Rangiku cried as everybody began to stand up, but stopped once they heard her. "What about Captain, Hitsugaya?"

"Rangiku, I know you want to help him with whatever trouble he's in, but I don't know what we could do. We don't even know where he is." Shunsui gently informed her.

"I could show you." Yasashi who had been quiet the whole time finally spoke up. "I will admit I am worried about him too, his father will not kill him, but I am not too certain about this Aizen fellow."

"Please take me to him." Rangiku pleaded as she turned towards the large dragon.

"Rangiku we are going to need everybody we can get once Aizen shows up. We can not afford to lose you too." Shunsui argued. "Besides what are you going to do if he is surrounded by enemies? I will admit you have gotten stronger, but what if it's too much for you to handle?"

"I will go with her." everybody turned to see Grimmjow standing. "I'm getting tired of just hanging around here anyways, and besides I'm sure it will really piss off Aizen if we recover that little captain."

The Shinigami looked at each and shrugged their shoulders.

"Alright then, Rangiku and Grimmjow, you two may go with Yasashi to try and recover Toshiro Hitsugaya, but if the situation becomes dire, I expect you both to return here asap." Shunsui sighed.

"Here take this." Urahara tossed a small phone to Rangiku. "I got a few of these soul phones up and running again. Call us if there are any problems, and we will do the same."

Grimmjow and Rangiku nodded in unison.

"If I may." Yasashi interjected. "The Guardian of the Oken has requested to remain here to assist in the fight."

Everybody muttered quietly wondering what the implication was.

"He is asking to be with Ichigo Kurosaki."

Everybody turned to look at the orange haired man.

"Ok." was all Ichigo said as he stood and walked up to the dragon. She proceeded to put her clawed hand on his shoulder while she muttered softly, bathing Ichigo in a golden light as the intricate tattoo snaked off of her shoulder and onto his. Ichigo grunted as the power was transferred to him and everybody grimaced slightly at the burst of spiritual pressure before Ichigo reined it in.

 _It's nice to finally meet you, Ichigo Kurosaki. I have heard alot about you._

Ichigo nodded in thanks to Yasashi, and she bowed in response.

"Alright then." Shunsui announced. "Everybody get some rest. Rangiku, Yasashi, and Grimmjow you can head out at dawn, and everybody else will begin training at the same time."

/

Toshiro opened his eyes groggily as the sunlight began to shine through his the balcony. He stretched and was surprised to find most of his injuries were mostly healed. His arm was the one thing that still hurt, but everything else seemed almost back to normal. He decided to test out his leg as he swung both his legs off the side of the bed and after a slightly wobbly start was able to fully stand.

'Great job, Hyorinmaru! I almost feel completely better.' he grinned as he tested his leg's strength by walking around.

 _I'm sorry I wasn't able to fix you arm entirely. A break of that magnitude will take a little longer to heal._

'I am grateful for what you have been able to do. At least I can move around now.'

The silver haired man walked over towards his balcony and peered out to see Dagateru in the courtyard with about a dozen other dragons. Toshiro began to feel anxious at the sight. He could still try and stop them. Toshiro hobbled out of the room as fast as his freshly healed leg would carry him.

After a few minutes of walking Toshiro paused to lean against the wall for a moment. His leg may have been healed but he could still feel the soreness from the wound, along with an ache in his back from where the slashes used to be.

 _I know you're eager, Toshiro, but you still have to take it easy, you are not one hundred percent healed yet._

'I guess you're right' Toshiro panted as he pushed away from the wall to start off again, but he paused when he heard hushed voices in the next room. Curiosity getting the best of him, the teal eyes man crept over to the closed door and pressed his ear against it, his eyes going wide when he heard what was going on inside.

"It's an honor to be back by your side, Lord Aizen." a drury male voice called out.

"Indeed, we were beginning the think that you had forgotten about us back in Hueco Mundo." a female voice added.

"I would never forget about my best two subordinated." Aizen's voice rang. "I was able to locate Dagateru as I informed you and I was merely waiting for the appropriate time to bring you two back here. The Oken has been located and we are once again going to war with the Shinigami to retrieve it."

"What is your plan, Lord Aizen." the female questioned.

"I have befriended to dragons here, and we are all like minded in our hatred for the Shinigami. They will help us to obtain the Oken."

"But are we completely sure they will not turn on us?" the somber male inquired.

"Do not worry about that. I have Toshiro Hitsugaya here, and if his father chooses to betray us then I will dispose of the boy. I have further use for him now that I have found the Oken."

The voices suddenly went silent and Toshiro pressed his ear up against the door harder hoping to hear more of the conversation when the door suddenly opened and he fell forward only to be caught on his good arm by Aizen. The teal eyed man looked up to see Aizen's former Espada, Ulquiorra and Halibel.

"It's not very nice to eavesdrop, young dragon." Aizen scolded. Toshiro growled and tried to yank his arm free, but the older man had a tight grip on his upper arm. Aizen smirked at the boy's efforts. "I don't know how you managed to heal yourself so quickly without your spiritual pressure." he pulled the silver haired man closer to search his eyes for any close. "You are just full of surprises. And as fascinating as that makes you, I can not afford the potential risk of you interfering, so I am going to need to make sure you won't."

Aizen grabbed Toshiro's arm tighter as the young man struggled to get free. The burnette then nodded to his subordinate who took the hint and followed his as he walked out of the room pushing Toshiro along before vanishing into a flash step.

Toshiro's head was spinning once they exited the Shunpo, and Aizen let go of his arm, letting the young man fall on the ground. The teal eyed boy grunted as he hit the floor and began to look around. They appeared to be in an old abandoned shack. Ulquiorra and Halibel arrived shortly behind the two, and Toshiro instinctually began to back away from the two arrancar, until he bumped into Aizen's legs. He felt entirely helpless. Aizen chuckled at the sight before him.

"I must say it is rather amusing watching you in this state, Toshiro. I should have put that collar around your neck a long time ago" Aizen reached down and grabbed Toshiro by the collar and stood him back up on his feet. "Bind him"

The arrancar grabbed both of Toshiro's arms and forced them behind his back, making the young man cry out in pain as he broken arm was forced backwards. His hands were then tightly bound with rope, and the action was repeated with his feet. Feeling satisfied that he had been tied properly Aizen picked the young man up around his waist and threw him down on the floor in the corner of the room making him cry out again as he landed on the side of his broken arm. Aizen squatted down and came face to face Toshiro as he glared back panting slightly and anguish written all over his face. The burnette reached into his pocket and pulled out the cloth again and shoved it into Toshiro's mouth and tied another one around his head, effectively gagging the young man. Aizen smiled at the helpless man before him. He reached out and ran his hand threw Toshiro's hair, relishing in the anger it brought the young man.

"You have definitely been a problem child from the start, Toshiro. And I will admit that you have managed to ruin my plans more than once." he then roughly grabbed a first full of silver hair and pulled the young man's head upwards towards him, smiling as the boy winced in pain. "But I still win in the end, Hitsugaya."

Aizen let go of the silver locks and let the young man's head fall back down towards the ground. He then reached down and removed the tracking band from his arm. The burnette then stood and faced his arrancar.

"Ulquiorra, you are to remain here and watch him, and to keep him alive. I might need him as leverage to keep his father in line. Halibel you will accompany me."

The two arrancar bowed in acknowledgement. Aizen then turned to leave, but stopped as turned back to his hostage, watching him struggle against his bounds

"Goodbye, Toshiro Hitsugaya, the next time we meet, I will be a god."

/

Aizen smuggly walked onto the courtyard with the blond arrancar on his heels. Dagateru spotted him and changed back into his human form. The silver haired man smiled broadly as he approached the burnette with his arms spread wide.

"Ah, there you are, Sosuke. I was wondering where you were." The dragon greeted before turning towards Halibel. "Why hello, and who is this beautiful creature."

"This is my subordinate, Tier Halibel." Aizen introduced. "She is going to join us in our fight against the Shinigami.

"It's an honor to meet you, Lord Dagateru." she bowed as he smirked.

"We are ready to go if you are." Aizen inquired. Dagateru grinned excitedly, but his smile fell as he looked back towards the castled and sighed.

"I'm going to check on my son before we go." Dagateru turned towards the castle, but Aizen reached out and grabbed the man's upper arm making the dragon quickly turn around with fury in his eyes.

"I think it would be best to let him rest with the condition he is in." Aizen explained. Dagateru glared and yanked his arm out of the man's grip.

"I will do what I please, Aizen." Dagateru growled as he stormed towards the castle. Aizen sighed and followed the man.

"Toshiro?" Dagateru questioned as he entered his son's empty bedroom. "Toshiro where are you?" The dragon pulled out a small device and after a minute of frustration threw it on the ground. "Damn tracker isn't even working."

"He isn't here anymore." Aizen stated as he leaned against the door frame. The dragon whirled around the face the man with a look of confusion and fury on his face.

"Then where is he, Aizen." he growled.

"I took the liberty of moving him to a safer location."

"Which is where?" the dragon's patience was beginning to grow thin.

"That I can't tell you."

Dagateru growled furiously and grabbed the burnette by his shoulders and slammed him against the wall.

"What are you playing at?" he growled.

"You see." Aizen began as he moved the man's hands from his shoulders. "I need to be sure that you won't turn against me, so I am using you son for insurance."

"You bastard!" Dagateru growled as he pulled back his fist to strike the man.

"Nah ah." Aizen wagged his finger mockingly. "If you don't want to cooperate, I will call my other subordinate and have him kill your son."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Ah, but I would. I have no more use for Toshiro now that the Oken has been found. My only incentive for keeping the boy alive is to keep you in check." Aizen reached up and patted the man's face mockingly. "So as long you as you play along, your son will live on. And once I retrieve the Oken I will even return him to you."

Dagateru glared daggers through the man, but otherwise remained silent.

"Good, then we have an understanding, so why don't we go ahead and leave so we can get this over with." Aizen gestured towards the door. Dagateru growled as he walked past Aizen and out the door. Aizen smirked to himself, everything was beginning to play out perfectly for him.

Dagateru strode down the hallway, completely furious. That tricky bastard. How dare he use his son against him. The dragon spotted one of his commanders at the end of the hallway waiting for him. The dragon had medium length black hair, and orange eyes almost and ferocious as his own.

"Baishunpu" Dagateru muttered under his breath once close enough. Aizen was a few yards away, and he didn't want him to hear. "I have a task for."

"Yes, my lord." The raven haired man caught the hint and kept his voice low as the two walked.

"Aizen has taken my son hostage in hopes to control me. When we leave for the Seretetie, I want you to secretly remain here and find Toshiro. Once you find him, eliminate whoever is holding him, and return my son." Dagateru slipped him a small device. "Alert me when you have found him."

"I will not fail you, Lord Dagateru." the dragon inclined his head slightly as the two continued down the hallway with Aizen not far behind.

 **Things are starting to get tense! Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you for the wonderful reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

"I'm tired, can't we take a break?" Rangiku whined as the duo trekked through the forest. Yasashi had flown ahead to look for Toshiro from the air.

"Tch. I thought you were eager to find your friend of yours?" Grimmjow sneered.

"I am, but my feet are killing me, we've been walking all day."

"Fine, why don't we set up camp over here for the night." the blue haired arrancar pointed to a small space in between the trees.

The two quickly and quietly set up their campsite and managed to get a small fire going before the sun went down. Grimmjow had managed to catch a small boar not long after the two settled in, and Rangiku had quickly set to work preparing their pork dinner.

The odd pair was now relaxing from the day's hike as the eagerly awaited for their rotisserie pig to cook.

"I've got something to help pass the time!" the orange haired woman sang as waved a bottle in the air making the arrancar grin mischievously.

"I knew I liked you for a reason." Grimmjow grinned as he dug in his bag and pulled out two cups. Rangiku took the hint and poured each of them a full glass of sake.

"So why are you so anxious to find this kid anyways?" Grimmjow inquired once they were several rounds in.

"He was my captain!" the women defended. "I have sworn my loyalty to him, and I will always help him where I can no matter what."

"That sounds like a load of crap." Grimmjow scoffed. "I swore loyalty to Aizen, but I dumped his ass the first chance I got."

"That's different! Aizen is a cruel and terrible person, who forced you to serve him. Captain Hitsugaya isn't like that!" he cheeks flustered in response.

"Look all I'm saying is times are different now. You're ranking system is almost non existent now, so why bother?" Grimmjow hiccuped slightly.

"Toshiro is a good person." Rangiku muttered quietly catching Grimmjow off guard by using his first name. "I have known him since he was really young, and he has always done what he can to help those around him, even if it's not what is best for him. I respect him deeply as my captain and as my friend. He may seem cold and brash on the outside, but inside he has a big heart." tears threatened to spill out of Rangiku's eyes.

"Hey don't cry." Grimmjow sighed. "I can tell you genuinely care for the little guy. We will find him, don't worry."

"Yeah I guess you're right." Rangiku leaned back to stare at the stars. The night sky reminded her of late nights spent dodging her paperwork in the tenth division. Her captain always found her though, no matter how well she concealed her spirit pressure. This time she was going to find him, no matter what.

"Aw shit, the pig." Grimmjow's fit snapped her out of her thoughts. The blue haired man pulled the meat off of the spit and began frantically brushing off the charred skin. "It isn't perfect, but it's still edible I guess."

Rangiku smiled and dug out a couple of bowls and eating utensils from her bag. They would find him, and she wasn't going to give up until they did.

/

Rangiku woke up to a start in the middle of the night. Grimmjow was snoring slightly in the sleeping bag, but that wasn't what woke her up. She sat up and listened, but didn't hear anything. After a minute she was ready to give up and go back to sleep when she heard a faint noise in the background accompanied by a steady increase in spiritual pressure.

By this point Grimmjow had woken up and quickly doused the fire hoping to hide their presence. The two sat in silence as a flock of massive beasts flew directly overhead. They looked at each other completely wide eyed, but otherwise remained silent. After a minute or so they group had moved past them. Rangiku immediately dug in her bag and pulled out the small phone Urahara had given her. Grimmjow just watched in silence, knowing exactly what she was doing.

"Urahara are you there?" she called into the phone with a hushed tone.

"Yeah, what's the emergency?" the blonde haired man answered groggily, having been woken up by the phone call.

"A large group of dragons just flew over us heading your direction. There are at least two dozen of them, and by their speed, they will probably reach you by morning."

"Well that it indeed grave new. Thank you for reporting this, Rangiku. Have you had any luck locating Toshiro Hitsugaya yet?"

"Negative, but we will resume searching first thing in the morning."

"Alright then, find him and then return here as soon as you can. We are going to need all the help we can get."

"Affirmative." she responded before closing the phone. Both individuals looked at each other and nodded. They understood the situation, and there was no more time for rest. They need to find Toshiro as soon as possible so they could return and help the Seireitei. They quickly packed their campsite and began to continue their trek north.

/

As the sun peaked beyond the horizon in the Soul Society, the first alarm went off as the dragons were spotted north of the city. Nobody had slept the night before. As soon as Rangiku had reported to beasts, Urahara had alerted everyone, and the Shinigami and spent the remainder of the night prepare for the upcoming battle.

Half of the forces now stood on the northern wall to face to attacking force head on while the others were stationed in various locations, should the initial confrontation go poorly. The Shinigami anxiously watched as the dragons landed on rooftops a few yards away from the wall. And there sitting on the back of the lead dragon was none other than Sosuke Aizen grinning ear to ear.

"Greetings, Shinigami. It has been a little while since our last meeting." the burnette called out.

"What do you hope to accomplish with this attack, Aizen?" Shunsui called back.

"Isn't it obvious?" the man grinned. "I wish to eliminate you all once and for all and to finally claim the Oken."

"I would like to see you try, Aizen!" Ichigo spat.

"Ah, Kurosaki. I will be a pleasure to finally get rid of you." Aizen flipped his hand upwards and Dagateru let out a reverberating roar that made everyone put their hands on their ears to try and block the deafening sound.

"Kill them all." Dagateru growled.

Ichigo stepped in front of the group and the dragons took a flight towards them.

 _Allow me to assist you, Ichigo._

Ichigo felt a strange power welling up inside of him, and after decided to go with it, he found himself spewing a massive wall of fire that took the dragons be surprise.

"So it seems he gave to the Guardian to you, Ichigo." Aizen frowned as he muttered to himself. "Hmpf, this makes no difference at all.

Dodging the flames, the dragons swooped in and began their attack.

/

Rangiku yawned as they continued their hike. The sun had already been up for a couple hours, and they didn't appear to be any closer to find the dragon's village. A while back they had heard something swooping through the sky, but it had moved on without them discovering what it was. Grimmjow yawned soon after Rangiku had, and she realized that they were both struggling to stay awake. Drinking probably wasn't the best idea the night before.

They trudged on in silence until they heard the swooping sound again. Like the time before, the duo froze in their steps hoping to avoid attracting attention, but this time the noise grew until before they knew it, a massive black dragon plopped down right in front of them. The beast was crouched down in an aggressive manner, and Rangiku shreked and dove behind Grimmjow who reached for his sword.

"What is a Shinigami, and arrancar doing all the way out here?" the beast growled. Rangiku gulped and stepped out from behind Grimmjow.

"We are looking for our friend. We mean no harm." she cautiously approached the beast. "Have you seen him? He is young, just a little shorter than me. He has silver hair and a cold demeanor."

"Do you mean, Toshiro?" the beast dropped his aggression and tilted his head to the side.

"Yes, yes!" Rangiku nearly jumped for joy. "Do you know where he is?"

"No I'm afraid I do not." the dragon sighed making the orange haired women lose her excitement. "That Shinigami Aizen kidnapped him and is hiding him. Lord Dagateru has tasked me with recovering his son."

"We should help each other." Matsumoto suggested. The dragon looked at the suspiciously for a moment before conceding.

"Very well, Shinigami you may help me locate Toshiro Hitsugaya, but this does not mean we are allies."

"Deal." Rangiku stuck out her hand towards the dragon who eyed it suspiciously. "Oh right." she awkwardly retracted the gesture. "Do you have any idea where he might be?"

The dragon shook his head with a sigh, but then looked up curiously towards Grimmjow who was staring off towards the left with a feral grin on his face. Rangiku noticed this and walked back to the arrancar.

"What's wrong, Grimmjow?"

"I think I might have an idea where your captain is." he sneered as a wild look appeared in his eyes.

"Where?" she asked as he looked back at her with excitement.

"Can't you feel him?"\

Rangiku closed her eyes and she felt out with her sense before her eyes opened with a gasp. Grimmjow's grin grew.

"It's Ulquiorra, and if he's nearby, I can almost bet Toshiro is as well." Grimmjow snarled as he dove towards the sensation with Rangiku and the dragon hot on his heels.

 **Sorry for the short chapter, the next one will be longer and full of excitement. The war with the Shinigami is beginning, ad Grimmjow is eager to settle on old score with his former ally, Ulquiorra as they attempt to find and rescue Toshiro. Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you for the wonderful reviews! I apologize for the delay, but regardless here is the next chapter!**

War raged on in the Seireitei. Dragons swooped down in random places throughout the city and unleashing their furry upon the Shinigami below. Urahara had managed to place up a few barriers before the invading group arrived, but that only helped to limit the damage to the city itself, it didn't provide much protection to the Shinigami. Everybody was battling in pairs. The dragons were quicker and stronger than everybody had anticipated, but so far there hadn't been any casualties.

"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo shouted as he unleashed yet another powerful wave towards the massive silver dragon who dodged the attack with ease. The beast chuckled as he swirled around and unleashed a powerful ice blast in the place where Ichigo was standing. The orange haired young man flash stepped out of the way and re-appeared behind the beast who quickly batted the young man into the ground with his tail. Ichigo grunted and released a fiery breath that the beast once against dodged with ease.

"You will need to do better than that, Shinigami." Dagateru taunted as his eyes briefly widened as another attack shot away from the younger man and caught the dragon's hind leg. Scoffing Dagateru dove towards the young man only to reverse course as another wave of spiritual pressure shot at him.

"Get back here and fight me like a man." Zaraki manically sneered. The large Shinigami then grabbed Ichigo by the back of his shirt and pulled him onto his feet. "Come on, Ichigo, show this punk what you're really made of."

Ichigo grimaced and shot towards the beast with his zanpakuto in bankai and Kenpachi right on his heels.

A few meters away, Shunsui smoothly deflected Aizen's blade with one of his swords as he brought the other one across in an attempt to slice the man across the chest, but Aizen easily stepped back as he avoided the blow before bringing his own zanpakuto back around, lightly nicking the older man across his cheek. Shusui smirked before bringing both of his blades down only for Aizen to block them both.

"Not bad for only having one arm." the dark haired man sneered.

"Why thank you, old friend. I've been practicing." the burnette taunted back before dodging and rolling forward as another blade sliced the air where his head had just been. "Sneak attacks are rather cowardly, Kisuke."

"We have to do what we gotta do to win, Sosuke. The steaks are too high to risk failure this time around." the blonde retorted as he sent a kido blast towards the one arm man who deflected it with a blast of his own as he dodged Shunsui's blades once again.

"Just hand over the Oken, and none of you will have to die." Aizen sneered as he flash stepped to avoid another kido attack from the blonde.

"We know better than to believe anything you have to say, Aizen." Shunsui grunted as he dodged a blow from Aizen's zanpakuto.

Next to them Byakuya landed hard into the ground along with a massive stream of water that pinned him there momentarily. The raven haired man panted as he stood up and sent his blade into a million pieces towards the blonde women above him, who used sonido to escape the attack before reappearing in front of the former noble while sending a strong kick right into the man's temple, effectively sending the man flying into a nearby building. She followed the kick by sending another torrent of water towards the man that he blocked with an impenetrable wall of his blades.

Ikkaku and Yumichika stood back to back a few hundred meters away as the fended off simultaneous attacks from two seperate dragons. The beasts were stronger than both of the Shinigami but that didn't damper the duo's spirits as the earnestly continued to fight the invaders. Nobody was giving up against these hopeless odds, and they would not quit fighting as long as they had the strength to continue.

/

Grimmjow eagerly crouched in the nearby bushes as he watched his former ally emerge from a nearby shack. The large dragon had taken on his human form for the sake of stealth and was crouched beside the arrancar. Yasashi had returned to the group and was now hiding alongside Rangiku on the other side of the clearing. The blue haired man desperately wanted to fight the raven haired arrancar alone, but the others had insisted that teamwork was the way to go. So Grimmjow and Baishunpu would both fight with Ulquiorra while Rangiku and Yasahi would hang back as back up while they waited for an opening to enter the shack.

"Hmpf, I know you are there, Grimmjow." the black haired arrancar announced out loud. "You never have been good at hiding your spiritual pressure."

"Good, I was getting tired of hiding anyways." the blue haired arrancar sneered as he stepped out from the bushes along with Baishunpu.

"Hand over the boy, and you will not need to get hurt." Baishunpu demanded calmly.

"Like hell is he going to get hurt." Grimmjow snarled at the dragon. "I'm going to hurt this bastard no matter what he decides to do."

"I will not risk you hurting Lord Dagateru's son." the dragon scoffed.

"Then go find him. I don't need your help with this fight anyways." Grimmjow growled.

"Are you two done arguing yet?" Ulquiorra interjected. Baishunpu and Grimmjow looked at each other with narrowed eyes before nodding and diving towards the raven haired arrancar.

Ulquiorra stepped back as he avoiding Pantera's downward swing. He then ducked into a backwards roll as Baishunpu transformed into his dragon form and swiped a large claw towards the arrancar head. The stone faced arrancar then held out his hand and unleashed a cero blast the the two barely managed to dodge. Ulquiorra then pulled out his blade and slashed at the dragon's chest only for it to be deflected from Grimmjow's zanpakuto. The blue haired man then growled manically as he held out his palm and released a cero of his own, that managed to singe the arrancar's hair. The arrancar's eye twitched at this as he whipped his sword around, cloiding it with Grimmjow's own blade. The two locked eyes as both pressed harder on their blade. Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed making Grimmjow's grin grew larger and more feral.

Seeing the former Espada completely distracted, Rangiku nodded towards Yasahi who crouched as low as she could go and began to follow the female Shinigami. Rangiku paused before leaving the cover of the woods. The fight had been going on for about ten minutes and she was fairly convinced they were no longer around . She then proceeded to sprint towards the shack, but quickly jumped out of the way as a cero blast hit the ground where she had just been. Rangiku looked back to see Yasashi had managed to dodge as well. The orange haired women the looked up to see a disheveled looking Ulquiorra. He was panting slightly as he approached her. His eyes were uncharastically ablaze with anger, and he had a slight limp to his left leg along with various other wounds.

"I'm am tired of you Shinigami always ruining everything." He snarled as he let another cero blast fly towards the woman who barely managed to dodge again. "I will not let you in that shack."

Rangiku unsheathed her zanpakuto. She was worried about what had happened to Grimmjow and Baishunpu, but she was going to do everything in her power to rescue her captain, even if it killed her. Ulquiorra raised up his blade to strike the women when a hand shot out from behind him and grabbed his blade hand. Taken off guard by this movement, Ulquiorra froze as Grimmjow suddenly emerged as he twisted the former Espada's arm in an unnatural direction causing the man to cry out in pain. The arrancar dropped his blade as he cradled his broken arm. Grimmjow smirked at the sight before him. The blue haired man looked pretty beaten up himself, and Rangiku was beginning to wonder what had happened in their fight. Ulquiorra, completely furious now, reached for his blade with his good hand but never reached it as the teeth from the large dragon appeared out of nowhere and snapped shut around the arrancar, swallowing him whole.

"I wanted to finish him off." Grimmjow whined.

"I'm glad you are ok." Rangiku cried with joy as flung her arms around Grimmjow's neck making the arrancar freeze in place. She realized the awkwardness of her actions and promptly removed herself from him. "What happened to you two? I could barely see the fight from where I was."

"Well you know, he managed to get a few good shots in, but we still kicked his ass." Grimmjow grinned while giving the dragon a thumbs up. Baishunpu snorted and changed into his human form revealing a few injuries of his own.

"That arrancar was stronger than expected." the black haired dragon sighed. "Did you find Toshiro?"

"Oh, I haven't even checked inside yet." Rangiku dashed away from the men as Yasashi followed. The men shrugged and followed too.

The orange haired women opened the door and entered the dimly lit shack. After a moment her eyes adjusted as she gasped as she spotted the silver haired young man tied and gagged lying on the floor. The teal eyes widened in surprise as the locked with hers.

"Captain!" she cried as she ran over to him and untied the gag from around his mouth.

"What are you doing here, Rangiku?" the young man managed to ground out with a raspy breath. His throat was completely parched.

"We came to rescue you." Rangiku moved to untie his feet and then hands. "Yasashi said you might be in trouble."

Toshiro cried out in pain as she grabbed him by his arms to help sit him up. Not knowing what happened, she instantly let go, and Toshiro cried out again as he landed on his injured arm.

"I'm sorry, Captain. I don't know what I did?" she panicked.

"My. .arm. . my arm is. . broken." he panted. Rangiku looked over and noticed the bruising on his right arm and this time gently helped him up into a sitting position without grabbing the injury. "Thank you." he panted as the pain subsided. Toshiro looked up at his former lieutenant and could see tears once again welling up in her eyes before a furious look filled them as she slapped him hard across the face.

"How dare you!" She shouted at him as he sat silently with his head hanging from the slap. "I spent the better part of a decade looking for you, unsure whether or not you were actually alive or not, but I still held on to the hope that you were still out there somewhere. And then I finally find you, and you have the audacity to leave again all of a sudden. And without even saying goodbye. . ." Her fury had turned back into tears, and Toshiro looked up into her sobbing face. "Why didn't you take me with you, captain?"

"I'm sorry, Rangiku, for everything." the teal eyed young man pleaded solemnly. "I had to go by myself. I needed to master my dragon side, and I couldn't risk anybody getting hurt while I did that."

"You still could have told me." she pleaded, but Toshiro shook his head as a small smile pulled at his lips.

"You know you would have tried to follow me, Matsumoto, and I could not risk hurting you. I promise I will not leave without saying goodbye again."

"Oh, Captain, I missed you so much." She reached down and hugged him again.

"Are you fine, young one?" Baishunpu interrupted drawing the silver haired man's attention upwards.

"You work for my father don't you?" Toshiro questioned making the dragon smile and bow slightly.

"He sent me to find you when he realized that Aizen had kidnapped you. He will be happy to know you have been recovered." the dragon pulled out the small communicator. He tried a few times to establish a connection, but all he got was static and he frowned.

"The Seireitei more than likely has a block on all unauthorized communications, and if that's the case, the dragons must already be inside." Toshiro sighed as he stood up with Rangiku's help.

"Grimmjow, don't you still have that soul phone Urahara gave us?" Rangiku hopefully asked, but the blue haired arrancar just shook his head as he held out the remains of the broken phone.

"We better hurry and get back then." Toshiro announced.

"What is that band on your neck, Capitan?" Rangiku asked as she poked at it.

"I'm not your capitan anymore, Rangiku, and this is a spiritual pressure seal that Aizen placed on me a while back. I wouldn't be surprised if he is the only one who can remove it as well." Toshiro sighed.

"Let's hurry up and get back so we can force Aizen to take this thing off of you!" Rangiku eagerly grabbed him by his good arm and led him outside where Yasashi was waiting.

"I'm glad to see you again, Toshiro." Yasashi purred.

"I'm glad you made it to the Soul Society safely. I assume your children are safe as well." Toshiro smiled as the dragon nodded in response. Rangiku then pulled her sash off of her waist and fashioned a makeshift sling for Toshiro's arm.

"There this should help keep it secure for now." Toshiro nodded his thanks. Baishunpu transformed into his dragon form and dipped his head to the ground.

"Ride with me, Toshiro." he half commanded. Rangiku looked reluctant at first to be seperated from her former captain, but she relented by giving Toshiro another hug before helping him onto the dragon's back. She then quickly followed Grimmjow up on Yasashi's back, and the two dragons quickly dove into the sky and flew south towards the Seretie.

/

Ichigo panted as he wiped the stream of blood out of his right eye. This was harder than he had expected it to be. No matter how hard he tried, he could never seem to land a decent blow on the large dragon. Meanwhile, all the Shinigami around him seemed to be nearing the end of their ropes. He could sense a few Shinigami had been defeated though he didn't have the time to figure out who. Even with the Guardian's help, he was unable to defeat this monster. All he could do was keep pressing onward and hope that something would eventually work.

The orange haired young man took a second to glance around him, and his spirits began to fall when he noticed the unconscious forms of Shunsui and Urahara beside him. He also noticed Yoruichi had joined in with Byakuya again the Espada, but even that didn't seem to be going to well.

Sensing his despair, Dagateru landed on a nearby rooftop next to Aizen who had been watching the two fight. Ichigo gripped Zangetsu harder.

"Things aren't looking too good for you, Ichigo." Aizen taunted. "So I will give you one last chance to live. Go bring me the Oken, and I will spare your lives."

"I will never give it to you, Aizen!" Ichigo spat.

"You would be wise to listen to him, boy." Dagateru sneered. "You have no hope of beating me, and your friends do not seem to be doing much better."

 _Don't give up, Ichigo, I will keep helping you as long as possible._

Ichigo's spiritual pressure flared as he readied himself.

"So you choose death then?" Dagateru scoffed as he crouched down, ready to pounce. "So be it."

The dragon growled and was about to spring forward when he sensed the presence of two dragons approaching. Aizen also sensed the dragons and began to frown. Ichigo was confused by their distraction until he noticed two objects in the sky flying towards them.

Dagateru let out a roar when he noticed Toshiro sitting on the black dragon's back. Baishunpu landed and before anyone could stop him, Toshiro jumped off the dragon's back and ran in between Dagateru and Ichigo.

"You have to stop this!" Toshiro shouted at the large dragon.

"I'm am pleased to see that Baishunpu has recovered you, but I need you to step out of the way, Toshiro. This is not your fight."

"Can't you see that Aizen is just manipulating you?" the silver haired young man shouted and he stood firmly in place. "The Shinigami has done nothing to you."

"This has been a long time coming." Dagateru growled. "There has been hatred between our kinds for many centuries, and just because you have not seen it does not mean it doesn't exist."

"I promise you that none of these people have done anything to you! The Shinigami have lost a lot from Aizen's hands. More than half have been killed just over a decade ago. Everybody here is merely trying to rebuild a life for themselves. It is not too late for peace, father. Things have changed since you were last here, and the Soul Society is now run by a new generation." Toshiro pleaded as Dagateru's features began to soften. "Things are not how they used to be."

"You are wise, my child. Just like your mother." the older dragon sighed. "You have the advantage of seeing both sides of this conflict. Very well, I will relent and try to work out a way for peace."

Toshiro smiled as he sighed and looked back at the relieved expressions washing over the varying Shinigami all looked battered through and through, but everyone seemed happy that the fighting had stopped.

"No!" Aizen roared, and before Toshiro could fully turn back around he felt the man suddenly grab him around his waist as he jumped into a flash step. The man stopped on top of Sokyoku Hill and dropped the teal eyed man to the ground. "I'm am tired of you getting in the way of all my plans, Toshiro Hitsugaya." the man spat as he slapped the boy hard across his face.

"Let him go, Aizen." Dagateru growled dangerously.

"Dagateru, you will continue your attack on the Shinigami or I will kill your son right here in front of your eyes." Aizen threatened as he picked Toshiro up by his neck and held him over the edge of the cliff.

"Don't do it!" Toshiro managed to ground out before the burnette began to squeeze harder.

"Lord Aizen, I found it!" a female voice rang out catching everyone's attention. The blonde arrancar used sonido and appeared before Aizen holding a large golden key. She sported a variety of injuries, but managed to appear as if nothing was wrong. Aizen dropped Toshiro on the ground, leaving the young man gasping for air as he reached out and took the Oken from his loyal servant.

"At last. . ." he breathed. "The Oken is finally mine! Thank you Halibel, you have been a loyal servant." he smiled at her before thrusting his sword through her chest making everybody gasp audibly from the action. "The Oken needs a sacrifice to activate, and I greatly appreciate yours." he purred as a lifeless expression fell on her face on she collapsed on the ground.

"You bastard." Toshiro growled. He never cared for the arrancar, but he couldn't believe Aizen would kill his own subordinate in cold blood like that.

"Don't act surprised, Toshiro." Aizen scoffed as the runes on the golden key began to glow, waiting for activation. "Now it is time for me to finally take my rightful place on the throne, goodbye Shinigami, Dragons, and of course you Toshiro. I look forward to making your lives miserable."

"Not if I can help it." Toshiro growled as he sprang up from the ground as best he could and kicked the Oken clean out of Aizen's hand, sending the artifact tumbling down the cliff.

"You little brat!" Aizen sent a kido blast at Toshiro that hit the young man square in the chest and sent him flying off the cliff as well. Toshiro heard a roar as he suddenly felt a large hand wrap around his waist and stopping his fall. He sighed and briefly looked at the burn on his chest, it could have been a lot worse than it ended up being. The silvered haired boy felt the large dragon carefully set him on the ground, but it caught his attention how incredibly silent his father was. Toshiro looked up and his eyes widened as he saw his father tightly grasping the Oken in his other hand.

"Fate has smiled on me today." The dragon's feral grin grew. "The Oken is finally mine! We can finally have our revenge on the Soul King for the centuries of oppression he put on us." the dragon muttered to himself out loud.

"Father please." Toshiro begged carefully. "That thing need to be destroyed."

"I have waited centuries to fulfill my vendetta against the Soul King, and now the opportunity has fallen into my hands. Join me Toshiro and together we can rule this realm as father and son."

"I swear I have heard that somewhere before. . ." Toshiro muttered to himself.

"What do you say, my son." the large dragon offered.

"This is wrong." Toshiro shook his head. "The Oken needs to be destroyed, nobody needs it. We can still have peace, father."

"Very well then." Dagateru snorted. " I will invade the Soul Palace without you." the large dragon let out another roar and the remaining dragons flew into the air towards their leader. "I will come back for you, Toshiro, and I expect the Shinigami to have fully healed you by then. That is if they wished to be spared."

"Father, don't do this." Toshiro pleaded, but the dragon merely scoffed as he jumped into the sky and lead the dragons northward, away from the Soul Society.

 **Battles are always fairly difficult to write, and this chapter in particular took some time since so much happened. But what is our favorite silver haired captain/dragon going to do now that his father has the Oken and is set and exacting his ancient revenge on the Soul King, and what is Aizen going to do now that Dagateru has stolen his thunder. . . Continue reading to find out! And please review, I love to hear from you guys!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you for the wonderful reviews! I am glad to hear that you are all enjoying the story so far. Now please enjoy this next exciting chapter!**

Toshiro sat with a scowl plastered on his face as yet another person attempted to remove the collar from his neck. No matter what they tried, the metal ring remained securely fastened. As soon as Dagateru had taken the Oken, the Shinigami had gathered in the first division halls to hopefully come up with a plan to stop the dragons. While they had argued, one of the few healers that remained managed to perform some minor healing to his broken arm as well as place a protective kido barrier around it to keep it from getting jostled around too much. So far the only plan anyone could think of was to remove the spiritual seal from around Toshiro's neck since he was the only dragon that would help them besides Yasashi.

"Let me take another look at it." Urahara demanded with a similar scowl on his own face.

"We don't have time for this!" the silver haired man's patience was beginning to wear thin. "Dagateru is going to enter the Soul King's realm any moment now."

"We can't beat him without you, Hitsugaya." Shunsui sighed. "Aside from the fact that we know you can fight him without him trying to kill you, the Shiba family's flower cannon was destroyed years ago so we have no way of reaching the Soul King without help from you and Yasashi. And she can only carry three Shinigami by herself, so we are going to need you in more than one way."

"So do you have any ideas how to get this thing off?" Toshiro sighed. "I can only think of one, and I do not like it one bit."

"Unfortunately, he may be our only option." Urahara interjected.

"Fine, let's get this over with, and quit wasting time." Toshiro stood and followed the older Shinigami out of the room and down a small flight of stairs. Luckily as soon as the dragons had left, the Shinigami had managed to apprehend Aizen during the confusion,so it would at least make this next part a little easier. Toshiro's frown deepened as they approached the brunette sitting in a secure cell with sealing bands around his wrists. The man smiled wryly as he watched the group approach him.

"How nice of you all to pay me a visit." he smirked.

"Cut the crap, Aizen. I need you to remove this collar from my neck." the teal eyed man snapped.

"Impatient as ever I see, and why should I help you? I kinda prefer you in this helpless state." he quipped making Toshiro's cheeks flush with anger.

"Calm down, Toshiro, he's trying to provoke you." Shunsui placed his hand on the young man's shoulder. "I'm willing to make a deal with you, Aizen."

"Oh?" the man smirked. "How about you release me and let me go and in exchange I will remove the collar from young Hitsugaya's little neck." Aizen's smirked grew as he watched anger flare in Toshiro's eyes again.

"I will agree to your terms on the condition that you assist us in retrieving the Oken and stopping Dagateru from invading the Soul King's realm. After that you are to leave the Soul Society and never return. If we catch wind of you coming back here, you will be executed. And do not even think about double crossing us or we will execute you on the spot, understood?" Shusui offered reluctantly.

"What?!" Toshiro shouted at the wavy haired man. "Are you crazy, after all that he has done, all those he has killed, and you are offering him freedom?!"

"We don't have any other option, Toshiro. I'm sorry."

"I accept your generous offer." Aizen dipped in head in acknowledgment.

"There has got to be another way." the silver haired young man pleaded.

"Time isn't a luxury we have, Captain Hitsugaya." Shunsui replied sternly. "You said so yourself."

Toshiro frowned and crossed his arms, but otherwise remained silent as Shunsui gestured to the guards to release Aizen. The man stood up to his full height while rubbing his newly freed wrists. He then smiled and motioned for Toshiro to approach him. The young dragon rolled his eyes before walked up to the man he hated, every muscle in his body tense. Aizen could sense this as he placed his hand on the young man's shoulder once he was in reach.

"Don't worry, Toshiro, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Just get this over with." Toshiro sneered through clenched teeth. Aizen scoffed before releasing a small amount of his spirit energy into the metal band, and with a small clang, the collar fell to the ground. A small smile played on Toshiro's lips as he felt the familiar rush of his spirit pressure returning He closed his eyes briefly at the sensation.

"Shall we get a move on?" Aizen interrupted, making the young man frown again as he walked out of the cell and back up the stairs with Aizen and the other Shinigami behind him.

 _Be on your guard, Toshiro. I would not be surprised if Aizen betrayed this deal at some point._

Toshiro nodded internally as they reached daylight. Once outside, he transformed into a dragon, once again happy about his powers being returned to him.

"Alright then." Shunsui began. "We need to find and stop the dragons from entering the Soul King's realm, and if they have already entered, we need to protect the Soul King at all costs. Remember, if he dies without a proper replacement this entire dimension will become unstable and be destroyed. So Urahara, Yoruichi, and myself will ride with Yasashi. And Aizen, Ichigo, and Kenpachi will ride with Toshiro. The rest of you will defend the Seretie against any possible retaliation from the dragons."

"Sir!"

Yasashi knelt down to allow her three passengers on her back. She the nodded happily to Toshiro before jumping into the sky. Toshiro repeated this action and allowed Ichigo and Zaraki on his back but he stood up before Aizen could climb on, making the man frown.

"I believe the deal was for me to go with you, Toshiro."

"Oh I wouldn't dream of leaving you behind." the silver dragon smirked as he reached out and grabbed Aizen with his clawed hand as he took off after Yasashi.

/

"Father stop this!" the silver dragon roared as they flew into the dragon village just in time to see Oken open a gate into the Soul King's realm. Dagateru smirked at the sight of his son and the Shinigami coming to stop him, but he ignored them and entered the gate. Toshiro and Yasashi didn't hesitate to fly inside as well.

The moment the duo exited the gate, a group of dragons were waiting with an ambush. Toshiro quickly veered sharply to the right to avoid a large claw that swiped at his head. He then swirled into a barrel roll as another dragon flew behind him trying to grab his tail. Toshiro went into a sharp nose dive as the dragon sped past him before doubling back around. He then flew towards the Soul King's palace but was suddenly knocked out of the sky as another dragon swatted his tail into Toshiro's side. Taken off guard by the attack, Toshiro crashed into the ground. He got up from the ground and quickly realized he no longer had Ichigo and Kenpachi on his back, nor Aizen in his hand. Feeling panic welling inside, Toshiro looked around for the Shinigami, and felt small relief when he could feel Ichigo and Zaraki's spirit energy flaring up as they entered combat, but he still didn't know where Aizen had gone.

He didn't have time to worry about this as a stream of fire hit the ground where he had just been. Toshiro sprang back into the sky as he maneuvered to avoid more fire attacks before releasing his own stream of ice, effectively trapping the dragon. Feeling satisfied he sped off towards the palace knowing that was where he father would be.

As he approached the structure, he was intercepted by a familiar large black dragon that collided right into Toshiro's side sending the two dragons tumbling towards the ground. The larger dragon managed to pin Toshiro underneath him as they hit the ground leaving Toshiro to take most of the impact. The silver dragon roared in pain as his broken arm was jostled during the fall.

"Stop this foolishness, Toshiro. I do not wish to hurt you further." the dragon growled, but the silver dragon ignored his and bucked him off while he jumped up and swung his tail around, knocking the large dragon across his side, making him hiss in pain. The dragon retaliated by quickly striking out with his claws and catching Toshiro by his broken arm and pinning the injured limb to the ground. The silver dragon cried out in pain again and tried to yank his arm free. Toshiro attempted to release a stream of ice on the dragon, but the beast swung his other clawed hand at Toshiro's snout, cutting the young dragon across the mouth.

"That is enough, Toshiro!" the dragon roared. "I am keeping you here until your father is able to exact his revenge on the Soul King. You can not escape, and if you keep trying I will hurt you more."

Toshiro growled lowly as he kept trying to yank his arm free, but the pain from the broken limb forced him to stop. He opened his mouth to try his ice attack again, but the black dragon slammed his hand down on the silver dragon's snout, pinning it to the ground as well. Toshiro whimpered as he tried to to wiggle free.

"I said that's enough struggling!" the dragon roared as he pushed harder on Toshiro's broken arm. Suddenly the pain and pressure on his arm and snout went away as Toshiro looked up in time to see the dragon recovering from an obvious kido attack. He looked up to see a disheveled looking Aizen walking towards the beast. He paused to smirk at Toshiro.

"You better hurry, I won't be able to keep him occupied forever." the man smirked as he turned his attention back to the large dragon who was recovering from the attack. Toshiro waisted no more time as he jumped up and took flight towards the palace once more.

Toshiro entered the palace with little resistance from the dragons along the way. He quickly found his way to the throne room and entered just in time to see his father preparing a strike on the Soul King.

"No!" the young dragon roared as he barreled himself into Dagateru, effectively knocking him away from the Soul King.

"Stay out of my way, boy." the larger dragon growled, but Toshiro ignored him as struck him across his side with his tail, sending him flying. Dagateru grunted as he collided with a column. Toshiro took this opportunity to spew an ice attack, but the older dragon rolled out of the way and responded by sending his own ice attack back that barely missed Toshiro's tail as he dove out of the way. He quickly changed direction as another ice attack hit a column directly in front of him, and he quickly ducked as his father's claws sailed directly overhead. He tried swinging his tail again for another strike, but his father grabbed his tail and threw him into the ground. Before Toshiro could get up, Dagateru released another ice attack that managed to catch Toshiro on his hind leg, freezing him to the ground. Dagateru took the opportunity and landed on top of the smaller dragon and firmly grasped the boy's broken arm making the young dragon cry out.

"You will not interfere any more, Toshiro. This needs to be done." he growled.

"You can't do this. . ." he grunted between waves of pain. "The world can't exist without a Soul King."

"Then I will be the new king." the larger dragon snorted.

"You can still go home. You have a happy life there, why would you throw it all away for revenge." the younger dragon pleaded. Dagateru snorted and stood up and muttered an ancient spell that forced Toshiro into a transformation back into his human form. He was amazed that such magic existed, but now wasn't the time to ask about it.

"Go home, Toshiro. I have rendered your dragon abilities useless for the next few hours, there is nothing you can do to stop me." Dagateru snorted as he looked down on his son. Toshiro stood defiantly with fire in his eyes.

 _Let us fight together, Toshiro. Manafest my blade,and call my name._

"I can not defeat you as a dragon, that much is obvious." Toshiro began as he stared into the eyes of the massive dragon in front of him. "You have had centuries to master your powers, whereas I have only been practicing for about a year. So I will have to defeat you as a Shinigami." Toshiro reached out with his good hand as his spiritual pressure swirled in amass around his palm, producing a lengthy silver katana. Toshiro smiled as the physical sight of his long lost friend.

"Reign over the frozen heavens. . . Hyorinmaru!"

 **Sorry for the short chapter, but this seemed like a good place to stop for now. Toshiro is finally able to wield Hyorinmaru again after more than a decade. Will he be able to defeat his father? The outcome of the battle will decide the fate of everything. Stay tuned to find out what happens next. And please review, I love to hear from you guy, it is my fuel!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Welcome to chapter 11! Thank you to all my reviews so far. Sorry it took so long to update, I have been super busy with things, but I have finally got around to it! IT was hard writing all this fighting, but I like the way it came out please enjoy!**

Raising Hyorinmaru above his head, Toshiro managed to block the incoming ice shards that flew towards him. Using Hyorinmaru's powers, he transformed the ice shards to water briefly before reforming the liquid into a wall of ice to block a strike from the larger dragon's talons. Dagateru let out a frustrated roar before striking the ice wall with his tail, breaking it in the process. Toshiro used the cover of ice shards to shunpo close to the dragon's chest and slicing his blade downward, leaving a clean gash. The dragon roared with a mixture of pain and frustration as he tried to grab the boy, who spun out of the way and brought Hyorinmaru down onto the dragon's wrist in the same motion. Toshiro jumped backwards while muttering under his breath.

"What are up to now, boy!" the dragon roared as he stepped forwards only to find his foot glued to the floor.

"Rokui Hyōketsujin" the silver haired young man smirked as ice shards climbed up the dragon's body and freezing him in a column of ice.

Toshiro sighed briefly before Dagateru suddenly broke free from the ice prison in full rage. Taken off guard, Toshiro was unprepared for the dragon's talons that caught him across his side and threw him into a nearby wall. He stood up gasping and barely dodged the next attack of razor sharp ice shards that flew at him. Some of the ice caught him across the; left side of his face and shoulder leaving deep gashes.

"Is that all you got, Toshiro?" the dragon sneered. "I expected more out of a shinigami captain."

"Be careful what you wish for." Toshiro panted as he raised Hyorinmaru in front of him. "Bankai."

Ice flew out from the sword and carefully swirled around the young man, and forming around him.

Without hesitation, Toshiro sent a barrage of ice towards the beast who swooped high to avoid the attack, but he failed to notice a second blow and took the attack head on sending him crashing towards the ground. Toshiro used shunpo and flew over to the dragon while striking downwards with his blade, catching the beast across his face.

Dagateru used the opportunity to catch Toshiro in his grasp, making the boy's eyes widen in surprise. The dragon sneered at this as he squeezed harder.

"I will admit that you have turned out to be a worthy opponent even without your dragon powers, but you are still no match for me." Dagateru grinned slightly as he watched the boy struggling to free himself. "You have lost, Toshiro."

"Not yet. . ." Toshiro ground out through struggled breathes. "Hyōten Hyakkasō"

Dagateru looked upwards as snowflakes began to fall from above. Curiosity took hold as he watched the flakes fall down, until the first one hit his snout and bloomed into an ice shard embedded in his body. He roared and dropped Toshiro as his body began to fill with ice shards. The young man quickly moved out of range of the attack as he watched his father become engulfed in shards of ice until only a icy silhouette of the dragon remained.

Panting Toshiro watched as the ice shattered. He braced himself for an attack, but it never came. The dragon took one step forward and transformed back into his human form before falling to the ground. The young man raced over to his father's side and was relieved to find the man was still alive.

"It appears I have underestimated you, my son." Dagateru panted between struggled breaths.

"It didn't have to be like this." Toshiro calmed retorted as he put his father's head in his lap. The older man just smiled through his pain.

"You do not understand the pain I have gone through. My desire for revenge." he paused as he winced from internal pain.

"Revenge is not always the answer." Toshiro answered as he felt the pain from his own words. "Trust me, it brings nothing but heartache." Dagateru just smiled as he brought his hand up to Toshiro's uninjured cheek.

"Who would have guessed that one so young could show me wisdom." he whispered as consciousness left him. Toshiro stood up and picked up his father as he carried him out of the Soul King's palace.

The dragon's that had been fighting stopped as they saw Toshiro carrying out the unconscious form of their leader. They muttered amongst themselves, but none of them moved.

"I cannot thank you enough for defeating Dagateru for me, Toshiro Hitsugaya." Aizen's smug voice cut through the silence. "Now nothing stands in my way!" Toshiro carefully set his father down as he turned to see Aizen on the steps of the Soul King's palace. Slightly panting he drew Hyorinmaru as he readied himself for battle once more. Aizen tilted his head at this.

"You do not have the energy to fight me, young dragon." the burnette sneered.

"I will not let you win, Aizen." he spat with all the energy he had.

"You cannot possibly hope to beat me, especially without your dragon abilities."

Toshiro snarled and was about to leap forward when a hand grabbed his good shoulder gently but firmly. The silver haired young man turned to see Ichigo standing next to his with determination in his eyes.

"We can beat him together, Toshiro." the orange haired man smiled. "Besides, I know the guardian here would love to have of piece of this bastard."

"Let's end this then, Kurosaki." Toshiro smirked. As both men turned back to a grinning Aizen who raised his sword to challenge the two young men.

Ichigo made the first move by instantly releasing his bankai.

"Getsuga Tensho!" the orange haired shinigami shouted as he raced towards the burnett. Aizen merely smirked as he easily deflect the blow, but he quickly flipped backwards as Toshiro sliced upwards where his head had just been. As soon as Aizen landed, he side stepped as another Getsuga Tensho blast.

"Hadō #73. Sōren Sōkatsui" Aizen calmy muttered as a massive blast of blue energy fly towards Ichigo, knocking the shinigami back a ways. The burnett then brought his sword up just in time to block another strike from Toshiro.

"Bakai!" the silvered haired man screamed as Aizen shunpoed backwards to avoid the onslaught of ice.

"Hadō #88. Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō" the older man fired at Toshiro who blocked the attack with a wall of ice. Seeing his attack failed Aizen instantly attacked again without hesitation. "Hadō #99. Goryūtenmetsu."

Toshiro's eyes widen as five massive energy dragon's collided into his body. Shouting in pain the teal eyed man struggled to stay standing. Aizen smirked, but instantly dove away as Ichigo's Getsuga managed to catch his across his left side. Ichigo shunpoed next to Toshiro and helped steady him before Aizen's voice angrily cut across the field.

"I grow tired of this game, and I have come too far to let the two of you stand in my way any longer. It's time that I ended this game."

Ichigo and Toshiro braced themselves for Aizen's move, but their eyes widened as the saw the smirk on his face and heard his incantation.

"Seeping crest of turbidity. Arrogant vessel of lunacy! Boil forth and deny! Grow numb and flicker! Disrupt sleep! Crawling queen of iron! Eternally self-destructing doll of mud! Unite! Repulse! Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness! Hadō #90. Kurohitsugi!"

Blackness enveloped the two young shinigami as the spell completely encased them within. The black coffin then shattered leaving the two young men wounded from head to toe. The two collapsed onto their hands and knees, panting heavily and barely conscious.

"I must commend you two for still being alive and conscious." Aizen smirked as he approached the duo." But alas, all things must eventually come to an end. You two have been worthy opponents over these past few years, but it's time for this farce to end. Farewell Ichigo Kurosaki and Toshiro Hitsugaya."

While Aizen raised his hand once more and prepared his final attack, the Guardian spoke to Ichigo.

 _Allow me to take over, Kurosaki. I have once last attack I can do. I can end him._

"No way, I will not let you sacrifice yourself.!" Ichigo shouted internally.

 _It is the only way. My sole purpose has been to keep the Oken safe, and I failed in that mission. The least I can do is prevent this mad man from overthrowing the Soul King._

Reluctantly Ichigo allowed the Guardian to take over his body. Toshiro noticed the change in Ichigo's spiritual pressure and turned his attention to the orange haired man. His eyes widened in shock when he realized he was looking into the eyes of the Guardian.

"Hinotsuchi" he whispered.

"I am going to end this, Toshiro." the guardian's voice solemnly replied through Ichigo.

"You can't. There must be another way." Toshiro pleaded as emotions began to whell up inside him.

"It is the only way we can stop him. I owe it to your mother to keep this man from destroying everything she worked to build. It has been an honor getting to know you over these past few years. Your mother would have been proud of the man you have grown up to be. Farewell, young dragon."

"No!" Toshiro shouted in protest. He felt the way he did when Hyorinmaru was taken from, and it pained him to his core.

The guardian in Ichigo's body stepped forward to meet Aizen head on who had stopped his incantation at this new development. Once Ichigo stopped walking the entire area was engulfed in an incredibly intense spiritual energy that could only be described in comparison with the wrath of a dragon. Toshiro's consciousness began to fade as he watched Aizen become overcome with the shear power of the guardian. The last this Toshiro saw was Aizen's body falling to the ground as the whispers of Hyorinmaru as he faded to black.

 _Goodbye, my brother._

 **I'm sorry for the sad ending, but it was necessary! Please review, I love to here from my readers. The next chapter will more than likely be the conclusion for this story.**


	12. Chapter 12

Sorry again for the long delay, I really had a hard time deciding how I was going to end things. But after a long hiatus I have finally come up with the conclusion for this story. Please enjoy!

Toshiro sat on the edge of a small cot letting his fingers gently trace the cast that securely held his broken arm in place. He could hear the members of the newly re-established medical squad busily rushing through out the building. Their frantic pace had begun to slow over the past few hours as the Shinigami who were in the most critical condition were now stabilizing. He could still hear the occasional panicked shout down the hallway, but it was nowhere near where it had been. The silver haired man sighed as he stood up from the cot only wincing slightly from a pain in his ribs. The new healing squad had proved themselves to be skilled in their art.

The young dragon slowly walked down the hallway and out of the building, careful to move out of the way of any passing healers. He paused for a moment as he stepped outside to let the afternoon breeze rustle through his hair. The sensation stirred up an urge to soar through the open skies, to leave everything behind for the endless freedom of flight. But now was not the time. There were things he needed to attend to. After another deep breath, Toshiro headed towards former first division barracks as fast as his wounded body would let him.

Yasashi had informed him earlier that the Shinigami leaders had begun to deliberate how best to handle Dagateru and Aizen. The latter had been captured after the Guardian's final attack through Ichigo. Toshiro felt a pang of sadness threaten to take over at this thought. But he quickly shook it off, now was not the time to mourn. He composed himself as he thrust open the doors interrupting the Shinigami council.

"I demand to know why I was not invited to participate in this discussion." Toshiro scowled icily, a little harsher than necessary.

"With all due respect, Toshiro." Shunsui began. "You no longer have a say in Shinigami matters since you left over a year ago. This is something for us to discuss ourselves."

"Like hell you will!" the silver haired man growled sending a shiver through everyone in the room. "Regardless of where I have been, I think I deserve the right to participate in the discussions to determine the fate of Aizen and Dagateru."

"I believe he is right, Head Captain." Byakuya responded without moving his eyes from their stoic position. "Toshiro Hitsugaya may be the only here who can give accurate insight into Dagateru, and he has suffered greatly through Aizen's deeds."

"Well put, Captain Kuchiki." Urahara added. "Besides the dragons are cooperating right now, but if word reaches them that their leader's fate had been decided without one of them present, we might find ourselves looking at another battle."

"Very well, Toshiro, you may join this council." Shunsui gestured to an empty spot. Toshiro bowed his head in thanks before taking his spot as the head captain resumed talking. The young dragon couldn't help but reach up with his good hand to scratch at a persistently itchy spot on the side of his neck. It been itching almost continuously since he had regained consciousness after the battle. He had eventually brought it to the attention of one of the healers, but after a brief examination the healer had found nothing out of the ordinary and informed Toshiro that he may have pinched a nerve or something, but that explanation had done little to ease his or Hyorinmaru's worry over the odd itch. Sighing after the brief scratch, Toshiro turned his attention back to the matters at hand.

"So it is decided that Sosuke Aizen will be executed tomorrow at sunset Sokyuko. Are there any objections? Toshiro?"

"I have no objection to that at all, Captain. I wish nothing more than to see that traitor finally executed." The silver haired young man sneered.

"Very well, now we will move on to the matter of Dagateru."

"I say we kill that dragon as well, and show the other beasts what happens when you mess with us." Kenpachi sneered giddily.

"I object! Dagateru was being manipulated by Aizen and would have never launched an attack on the Seireitei otherwise." Toshiro snapped.

"This is why we were hesitant to allow you into this meeting, Toshiro Hitsugaya." Shunsui sighed. "We were all concerned that you would allow your personal connection to Dagateru interfere with your judgment."

"The head captain is right, Toshiro." Byakuya interjected once more. "Can you honestly say you are not letting your personal feelings get in the way of this matter?"

"Regardless of the fact that he is my father, it is the truth that he only attacked because of Aizen. That bastard had kidnapped me and was threatening to kill me if Dagateru and his army did not attack the Soul Society with him." Toshiro winced internally at his own words. It was his own failures that had let to this anyways. "He only did anything to try and protect me in his own way." he solemnly added.

"Despite what his intentions may have been, we can not ignore the fact that he not only attacked us, but the Soul King's palace as well, resulting in numerous casualties." Shunsui argued, he hated putting Toshiro in the position,but it was necessary.

"I'm not saying there should not be a punishment involved, just not death."

"What other punishment could possibly fit such crimes, young Hitsugaya?" Urahara questioned making the young man pause for a moment to ponder. "We need to send the message we will not tolerate such open acts of hostility."

"Execution will not be the answer to that." Toshiro began. "The dragons would not be as understanding in your logic. They have a deep loyalty and respect for Dagateru. If you execute him, you will make a powerful enemy out of the dragons."

"And where would you stand in such a situation, Toshiro?" Shunsui narrowed his eyes, he did not want to believe that the boy would ever become their enemy, but he couldn't be completely sure. Toshiro sighed and dropped his shoulders.

"I do not enjoy standing in the middle of these two sides, but I will always stand by what's right." Toshiro inhaled and straightened his stance looking Shunsui straight in the eyes. "Executing Dagateru would not be right. He was manipulated by Aizen into attacking. So if you kill him. . . I would be your enemy too."

There was a brief murmur around the room as they took in Toshiro's bold statement.

"I do not wish to be your enemy." Toshiro began, once again gaining everyone's attention. "Therefore I suggest we work on building a relationship instead of destroying one. The dragons would make a powerful ally and would be beneficial in aiding in the restoration of the Seireitei."

"What do you suggest?" Byakuya questioned.

"Banishment. The Shinigami can banish Dagateru from ever returning to the Seireitei. The dragons would appreciate and respect such a judgement which could be the foundation for a partnership between our two societies."

"You have spoken wisely, young dragon." Shunsui sighed with a small smile. "I ask now that you allow us chance to discuss amongst ourselves everything that you have told us, and we will inform you when a decision has been reached. Toshiro bowed slightly before exiting the room. He sighed as he leaned against the closed door.

 _You have done all you can for now._

'I just hope it was enough'

Reaching up to scratch the itch again, Toshiro looked up in time to see a large black dragon land beside him. The beast quickly changed into its dark haired human form and swept into a low bow in front of Toshiro.

"Lord Toshiro, I am pleased to see you are up and about."

"There is no need for such formalities, Baishunpu" Toshiro waved, half lost in his thoughts.

"What are the Shinigami planning to do with Lord Dagateru?"

"I wish I knew." Toshiro sighed. He wished he could be part of the final discussion, but he understood.

"Your army awaits your orders, my liege." the older dragon stood to his full height with a dangerous glint in his eyes. Toshiro's eyes widened in shock at Baishunpu's declaration of allegiance. The older dragon caught this and explained. "We have to be prepared for the worst and you have proved you are more than capable of leading our kind, Lord Toshiro."

"I thought I asked you not to be so formal." Toshiro pinched the bridge of his nose as he started down the hallway.

"As you wish, Toshiro." the man snickered as he followed the silver haired man.

/

Toshiro found himself heading towards the high security prison area with Baishunpu on his heels. The older man had been silent the whole time allowing Toshiro time to think. Upon reaching the guards the Shinigami present seemed reluctant to allow Toshiro to pass, but after a quick nod to each other they had allowed Toshiro to pass but they had insisted that Baishunpu remain behind. The older dragon was reluctant at first, but agreed to stay behind once Toshiro insisted he would be fine.

The young dragon continued down the hallway in search of his father until he felt the tendrils of a malicious he couldn't wait to never feels again. Turning to the cell on his right he looked straight into the ever arrogant eyes of Sosuke Aizen. The older man studied him with that familiar smirk plastered on his face. Toshiro scowled and faced the evil man.

"How nice of you to come visit me, Toshiro." Aizen began in a sing song voice.

"Like hell would I ever come down here to visit you." the silvered haired dragon spat.

"No need to be so hurtful, young dragon." Aizen acted hurt by Toshiro's words making the dragon's eyes roll. "I assume they are planning my execution up there?" he changed the topic.

"Yes." Toshiro narrowed his eyes icily as he absentmindedly scratched the annoying itch yet again . "You will die tomorrow at dusk."

"Death isn't always the end, young dragon." Aizen smirked with a twinkle in his eye. "You will be in my clutches again one day, my pet."

Toshiro growled but swiftly turned and walked away from Aizen, he wasn't going to let the man get to him this time.

He continued down the dark hallway for another few minutes until he finally came across Dagateru. The older dragon sat on the floor with thick chains around his neck and wrists, but they weren't necessary as the man did not struggle and sat in utter defeat. Toshiro knelt down until he was eye level with his father. The dragon looked up to meet eyes with his son, his eyes full of guilt.

"I am sorry, Toshiro." he began. " I let my anger get the best of me. . . again. I should have listened to you."

"Do not worry, I working to get you out of here. I know this was all Aizen's doing. He is a master manipulator. I have seen him bend the will of some of the strongest alive. I believe the Shinigami will be able to see this as well."

"I will not blame them if they sentence me with him. I deserve to die, Toshiro."

"Don't say such things! I have lost too much to lose you now." Toshiro shook his head as tears threatened to spill.

"My son." Dagateru said with a soft expression. "I have done many terrible deeds in my life, and for that I deserve what is coming to me. I am prepared to face the consequences of my actions."

"Father. . I" Toshiro began but paused as his father shook his head.

"I am proud of how strong you have become. . . . Why are you scratching at your neck so much?"

Toshiro looked confused for a second until he realized he had been scratching for nearly the whole conversation. He pulled his hand away and looked at it with a perplexed expression. Why was he so damn itchy?

"I don't know. . ." he half mumbled aloud before standing. "I will come see you again when I know the what Shinigami will do."

"Very well then, you may go." Dagateru relented but Toshiro couldn't help but see the concern in his eyes.

/

The sun was beginning to set as the last rays of the golden sunset bathed the top of Sokyoku hill. No one paid attention much attention to this though as all eyes were focused on the bound form of their most hated enemy Sosuke Aizen as he sat helplessly before the Sokyou. Here before the Shinigami sat a sight that most could not imagine would ever happen. They were finally on the cusp of avenging their fallen comrades. It was a glorious moment. Toshiro stood amongst the Shinigami and dragons trying his best to enjoy the justice that was about to finally happen, but the itch on his neck had evolved into a burning sensation and it was getting hard to ignore, but a hand on his shoulder turned his attention away from it as he looked up to his father standing beside him. The Shinigami had agreed to Toshiro's proposal to spare Dagateru's life under the condition that he is to never to return to the Seireitei as soon as the execution of Aizen was finished. Dagateru was a ready to see this end as much as the Shinigami were.

"Sosuke Aizen!" Captain Shunsui began. "You are here to finally stand accountable for your heinous crimes against the Soul Society. The charges that stand against you are too numerous to recite here, but I'm am positive that everyone here is well aware of your deeds. Do you have anything to plead in your defense?"

"I will not die here today! One day I will be god!" Aizen cried out with a feral grin without breaking eye contact with Toshiro which made the young dragon shift uncomfortably, something wasn't right.

"Not even faced with your own death do you show even a hint of remorse." Shunsui shook his head in disappointment. "Very well, for your crimes you have been sentenced to death by the Sokyoku. Without the Hogyoku even you do not stand a chance against a blade of this magnitude May the devil torment your soul for all eternity."

The Sokyoku began to quiver and transform and the massive blade took on the form of a large bird. Aizen turned his focus towards his focus away from Toshiro to face his impending doom. The blade cried out as it dove straight for the man before it. The moment the blade pieced Aizen's chest an intense burst of pain exploded from Toshiro's neck as he collapsed to the ground in a soundless scream. Consciousness began to fade as he noticed everyone around him begin to gather in concern, and somewhere on the edge of his awareness he could have sworn he heard Aizen's laughter.

/

"Toshiro. . .Toshiro?"

"Captain?"

"It looks like he's waking up, get a healer."

Toshiro woke up groggily to the fuzzy shapes of his father, Rangiku, and Ichigo. After a few blinks, he could see clearly again. Slowly he tried to sit up, while fighting dizziness.

"Careful Toshiro, are you alright?" Ichigo reached out to help the younger man sit up.

Toshiro rubbed his head once he sat up but otherwise he felt fine.

"I think I'm alright. What happened?"

"Right as Aizen died you collapsed in pain." Rangiku interjected worriedly.

"That's odd, I feel completely fine now." Toshiro even noticed that the odd sensations in his neck had stopped as well.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Dagateru questioned suspiciously. Toshiro nodded in confirmation as he jumped off the bed to prove his point. Seeing that he was indeed feeling fine, Dagateru stepped aside to allow Toshiro to leave the room reluctantly.

/

The next day Toshiro stood alongside Dagateru and the rest of the dragons as the very ready to leave.

"I want to thank you for your compassion." Dagateru began. "I was wrong about you Shinigami. Let this be the beginning of a new relationship between our two kinds, even if I am not allowed to return I hope we might still assist each other when needed. I wish to appoint my son, Toshiro as my ambassador since he is the only one here who can truly understand us both." A huge grin was on Toshiro's face, he hadn't been this happy in a long time. Everything appeared to be finally improving for the first time in a long time, but he still couldn't help this nagging sensation that something was wrong. He had tried to ask Hyorinmaru, but the dragon has been strangely silent.

"We look forward to the opportunity to build a friendship and mend wounds from the past. We will accept Toshiro to represent you here on your behalf. Although, Toshiro will always be welcome here no matter what." Shunsui smiled with a slight nod to the young dragon who returned the gesture with a full bow.

"Let's head home." Dagateru announced with a grin as the dragons behind him let out a roar of approval before leaping into the sky.

"Come visit soon, captain!" Rangiku waved enthusiastically as Toshiro gave her a smile before transforming and flying off towards the rest of the dragons.

/

By the end of the day Toshiro was back in his now familiar bedroom. The young dragon leaned over the balcony pondering the events from the past few days. I was such a relief that everything had turned out ok in the end. He couldn't have asked for a better outcome, but still he could help shake the feeling that something was still wrong. Hyorinmaru had yet to talk to him,which was very odd for the dragon. It was time to find out what was bothering him. Toshiro closed his eyes and delved into his inner world. The familiar plane of ice greeted him, but the ice dragon was nowhere to be found.

"Hyorinmaru! Where are you?" he cried out, but no response. He was about to call out again when he heard footsteps approaching. He turned to see who was invading his world, when his eyes widened as he nearly fell backwards from shock.

"Greeting Toshiro, I told you we would meet again."

"AIZEN!?"

I can't resist leaving things on a cliff hanger! Just when everybody thought Aizen was finally dead, that sneaky bastard has found a way to continue on! I will probably not write the next installment to this saga for a little while unless I get a lot of reviews that convince me otherwise. I have some other ideas I wish to write on next, but I will eventually get back to this I want to thank you all for your continued support and patience during the whole process of this story. Please review, let me know what you think, and what you think is going to happen next. Stay tuned!


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